Darkness Lifts
by PriscillaPal
Summary: This SmallvilleAngel saga is the second one after Darkness Falls, which is on fanfiction.net as well. In this chapter, Clark and General Lane are betrayed by Wolfram & Hart.
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1

The news of Lois Lane's condition, spread fast around Smallville, as everyone tried to figure out whether the college student had been the victim of some kind obscene prank, or if there was some kind of disease spreading around town.

General Sam Lane was called in quickly, and scurried his daughter, and niece, out of Smallville and into isolation.

Lana was terrified that she would catch whatever Lois had, since she had been one of the first to come upon Lois. And now that Chloe was gone too, and exhibiting signs of some sort of illness, it seemed almost assured that Lana would begin to fall under the weather.

But Clark Kent knew better. Or at least he knew that unless he made love to Lana, she wasn't going to 'catch' what Lois had. And Chloe....he didn't know what to make of her symptoms, except that maybe it stemmed from a reaction to seeing Lois.

But Lois's condition, while troubling, was not the firstmost in Clark's mind. It was everyone's complete and utter lack of memory of the past few horrific days in Smallville, that bothered him. No one appeared to remember the people that had been murdered by vampires. It was assumed they died of disease.....the same one that people thought could be killing Lois Lane. 

Also, no one remembered a student named Connor. It was that little bit of information that convinced Clark that Connor, and probably his father, Angelus, were responsible for this whole 'amnesia thing'. They were the only ones that benefited from it. Neither one of them could have really known, that whatever they did, would not work on him.

Clark sighed, leaning back in his waiting room chair. He had brought Lana to the hospital in hysterics. Then again, he couldn't blame her. Lois's father and his men had looked so official and imposing, that if one didn't know better, you would think Lois did have some sort of disease.

Lois crept back into his thoughts again. He remembered every moment of their time in the barn. Clark looked around, sure that someone could see he was blushing. Why had his hands left prints on Lois's skin? What did it mean?

And Lana had said something else. Something about an emblem on Lois's stomach. What was up with that?!

His mind then returned to Lois and how it had felt to be with her. How it had felt to touch her. How it had felt to have a woman make love to him. Clark wondered if there was any part of Lois that remembered what really happened, as well?

Yep, Connor and Angel, wherever they were, knew why no one could remember anything. But as for the reason why his hands left marks on Lois's body, Clark could not begin to imagine or know. He decided that maybe Dr. Virgil Swann could help him.

WOLFRAM & HART- Los Angeles

"What?!" Angel asked, disbelieving. Wesley Wyndam Price nodded.

"Yes, while you were gone, there were changes."

"What you've told me is not a 'change' it's a....a....."

"A happy thing?" Harmony Kendall asked, sweeping into Angel's office, wearing a new designer suit. The blonde vampire, had been promoted in Angel's absence. She no longer worked as Angel's executive assistant, but was now a liaison to the Senior Partners.

"How did this happen?" Angel asked, more to himself than to anyone else.

"Well, Lilah did kind of a piss poor job on the Smallville assignment. She's back down in hell where she belongs and voila! Here I am!"

Wesley turned from Harmony to look at Angel.

"Smallville is where you were. Where both Connor and you were, correct?"

"Were they ever!" Harmony chirped. "And that is why I am here before you at this very moment....well sort of. We have a client and you probably know what happened to her."

Wesley gave Angel a look of puzzlement. Angel squinted at Harmony.

"Spit it out, Harmony!"

"You might want to watch your testy tone!"

Angel ran a hand down his face. Why was this happening to him!

"I'm sorry, Harmony. Now would you please tell us what the hell you're talking about?"

"That didn't sound like a real sorry. But I will accept it." Harmony said primly. "Now, your client is a General Sam Lane and...."

"General Sam Lane?!" Angel almost yelled. Wesley eyed him.

"Someone you're familiar with?"

Angel turned to Wesley.

"Okay, I think there are some things you need to know, before we talk to this guy. First, when I was in Smallville, well, I kind of wreaked havoc."

Harmony smiled and clapped her hands approvingly. Wesley shook his head at her.

"Go on, Angel."

"Anyway, Connor was there and he was happy. At least, before I showed up. He had a girlfriend named Chloe Sullivan and....to make a long story short, Connor made a deal with this firm."

"What kind of deal?" Wesley asked, looking concerned.

"A deal that altered reality, very much like the one I made to give Connor a normal, happy life."

Wesley shook his head.

"I'm not following this. Why would he do that?"

"Because there were too many people dead, by the time I got that damned ring off of my finger. This wasn't a case of my leaving town and everything would be alright. New vamps had been made...I had killed people. And people knew that Connor was my son....and that he had a girlfriend. The General....he was trying to start up the Initiative again."

Wesley's eyes widened!

"That military group that was being run out of Smallville?"

"Yes. It's really too long a story to get into. The point is, that Connor was intent on protecting Chloe, and made this agreement without consulting her or me."

Wesley now nodded with understanding.

"So this spell erased the townspeople's memories of the vampires that had invaded their town. What about the vamps that you had created? And the dead?"

Harmony answered that.

"The vamps are gone but....there is a perception now that those people died from some illness."

"Illness?" Angel asked. "Just what are you trying to tell us, Harmony. Why is Sam Lane here?"

"Lex Luthor referred him to us and our research facilities. He's here because of his daughter, Lois."

"Lois?" Angel asked, remembering the swift kick in the groin she gave Luthor. "What's wrong with her?"

Suddenly, Harmony's tone changed and she became very businesslike.

"To be honest Angel, it looks as if both Connor and Lilah messed up. After the spell's completion, Lois Lane awoke to find her body covered in some sort of mysterious rash. Her cousin Chloe is coming down with something, that could result in her body being covered with this same rash as well. The people of Smallville believe that the people that are dead, died of what Lois has right now."

"WHAT?!" Angel almost screeched. He began to shake his head.

"Something else is going on here! There is no way that a spell, altering reality a bit, suddenly gives people diseases!"

Wesley frowned.

"I would have to agree. Where is this young woman?"

"In one of our infirmaries. I haven't seen the rash yet, but Fred is examining her now....and her cousin. You might want to check in on them, just to reassure them that Wolfram & Hart is doing everything they can for them." Harmony said. She then turned and walked out of the office. Angel turned and slammed a fist down on his desk!

"None of this is your fault, Angel." Wesley said calmly. Angel turned to look at him.

"Really? I should've never allowed Connor to go through with this. If he finds this out....if he finds out that Chloe became sick from this spell, it will kill him! It will just kill him!"

"Then we won't let him find out, alright? There has to be a perfectly logical explanation for this."

"Like what?"

"Like, something else, totally independent of Connor and you, happened to this Ms. Lane. Tell me about this place....this Smallville. Was there anything else at all, strange, that happened while you were there. Anything at all?"

Angel shrugged, struggling to think.

"No.....not really. Though now that I think about it, I wouldn't be surprised if Luthor had something to do with this."

"Lex Luthor? Of Luthorcorp?"

"Yes and Wolfram & Hart prized client. He had made a deal with General Lane out there for Connor and me. The General got two vampire specimens for his Initiative project and Lex...."

"Yes, what did Luthor get out of this?"

"Some sort of formula....and the General wanted him to marry Lois."

"Oh."

"Yes and in reality, she found out and managed to....well she gave it to him good. Whatever happened to her, happened after I saw her with Lex."

"Angel, what does this firm get out of helping Connor? What does your son have to give them in return."

"I don't know and it scares the hell out of me." Angel admitted, folding his arms.

"Well, we're not going to find out anything until we see the girl. Come on." Wesley responded, leaving the office. Angel slowly followed. Lois was in this building, as was Chloe. He prayed, for Connor's sake, that she was alright.

Fred walked into the infirmary, where Lois and Chloe were. She stopped short.

Spike was inside, examining one of the rash's.

"Spike! Oh my God, Ms. Lane, I'm sorry! I am so sorry! Get out of here!" she squeaked.

Lois, who had let the blond vampire take a peek, giggled. She glanced over at Chloe, who was grinning as well.

"Please....it's alright, really. He was just...."

Spike decided to speak for himself.

"It's alright, luv. Fred here got the wrong idea. I don't suppose you know anything yet, do you?"

"Spike, this is really none of your business. You should not be here."

"Well, I've figured it out, you know."

Lois, looked over at a frowning Chloe. Fred folded her arms.

"You have, have you?"

"Yes, bloody hell I have! Take a look at that rash! It looks like someone's handprints!"

"That's what I thought too." Chloe admitted.

Lois shook her head.

"Why would someone's handprints be burned on me like this and....."

"Lois," Fred said gently, "we're waiting for your father to come down now. I know a little more from examining both of you, than I did before. Spike, leave!"

Spike turned and smiled at Lois.

"You match the hands to those prints and you'll be just fine, luv."

Lois grinned at him and then looked over at Chloe, mouthing the words 'I love him'. Chloe grinned, then leaned back in her bed. Fred waited until Spike left to speak to the girls.

Angel and Wesley met Spike in the hallway. Angel rolled his eyes.

"What are you doing around here?" Angel asked.

"First of all, I have to say that Harmony's promotion is total and complete poppycock! She shagged someone I'm sure!"

"Yes, well, Wesley and I have things to attend to so...."

"You mean the girl with the handprints on her? She's got someone's mouth prints on her...."

"We can guess where, Spike." Wesley said. "But thanks for the advance warning."

"All I'm saying is that it's not rocket science, you know? And the girl's probably scared to admit to her father that she shagged some demon or something."

"Thank you Spike, for your analysis. Now we really must be going." Wesley said, this time a bit impatiently. Spike shrugged and walked off.

But something occurred to Angel. Wesley peered at him.

"What? What is it, Angel?"

"I know this is going to sound completely crazy.....but there was something else in that town that was a bit odd."

"What? At this point anything could help."

Angel licked his lips.

"There was another young guy there....I could tell Connor didn't like him too much. Anyway....at one point, I attacked him, when I was Angelus, and I broke a fang on his neck."

"You BROKE a fang?"

"Yeah! It was almost as if I dared to bite into a steel wall or something. I mean my tooth grew back quickly.....it's just that this guy....he didn't smell human. He was something else. I could sense it. But there was really no time to dwell on it."

"What does this man and Lois have to do with one another?"

"Well they know each other. I mean I could tell they were friends......but.....I don't know. I guess I'm not getting where Lois's rash, that Spike says are handprints, and this guy, or whatever he is, are connected. It's stupid. I mean this guy had another girlfriend.....I don't know."

Fred walked up to Wesley and kissed him. She then looked at Angel.

"The General is in the infirmary. It's not good news."

"What do you mean?" Angel asked.

Fred swallowed.

"Since the General wants us to help Lois and Chloe, he has given his permission to keep you updated on what's going on. Both of those girls are pregnant."

"Pregnant?!" Wesley gasped. "Well....how is this our problem? Wait a minute....Angel do you think that Chloe's baby is...."

Angel closed his eyes. Oh God! The baby Chloe was carrying almost had to be Connor's.

"Well it gets worse," Fred continued, not quite sure what was going on with Angel and Wesley. "Chloe swears up and down she hasn't slept with anyone, and I believe her. Lois doesn't remember either, but it is very apparent, just from her exam, that she has slept with someone very recently. I'm starting to think that maybe Lois has been the victim of some demon/predator/rapist."

"Because of the rash/symbols on her?" Angel asked.

"Yes....I want to do some more tests on her. I have a feeling that her baby will not be human. And who knows, maybe Chloe's isn't either."

Angel thought of Spike's idea.

"Is it possible to match the handprints up?"

Fred stared at Angel as if he had lost his mind!

"Yeah...I guess, but come on, Angel, how would you do that?"

Angel looked at Wesley.

"See that the General and the girls have everything they need. I have to take care of something."

"Angel?" Wesley asked, moving him out of earshot of Fred. "Are you going to inform Connor about his impending fatherhood?"

"I don't know yet. I need to do some fishing of my own first."

"Fishing?"

"I'm going back to Smallville." Angel answered.

Clark entered Dr. Swann's laboratory and found yellow crime scene tape up. He had dropped Lana off at the Kent farm, then superspeeded here. Dr. Swann had his back to him, but seemed to know he was there.

"Clark Kent." he said, turning around in his wheelchair.

"What happened here?"

"Wolfram & Hart is what happened, though the police think it was some crazed junkie/janitor that used to work here. My assistant, Ms. Cosby, was murdered."

"What?!"

"You were not aware of this?"

Clark shook his head.

"No. I'm sorry, I really am. But I am here for another reason."

"Actually, her death, and yourself, are related."

"Excuse me?"

"Wolfram & Hart wanted information about you."

Clark stared at the doctor. Wolfram & Hart? Wolfram & Hart? The name sounded vaguely familiar. Clark shook his head.

"Who are they"  
"A demonic law firm. Though they do represent some humans....unscrupulous ones, that is. Their representatives wanted all the information we had on you. They killed my assistant to get it."

Clark suddenly remembered the woman....the woman that was always with Lex. The same woman that had put the red Kryptonite ring on his hand.

"Was the person that killed her a brunette woman? Tall?"

"Ms. Lilah Morgan. Yes, so you are familiar with her?"

"Dr. Swann, I need to know what's going on! No one in Smallville remembers anything that's happened over the past few days! And I.....I slept with someone, who now has...."

Dr. Swann paled!

"You slept with a mortal woman?"

"Yes.....aren't they all?"

"Clark.....I don't know much about your family background, but from the little I do know.....your father, Jor-El, meant for you to rule this earth."

"Yes," Clark said wryly, "In my unfortunate dealings with him, I gathered that."

"Yes, well Kryptonians did not reproduce like humans. There was no physical contact. Clark, what I'm trying to say is, you weren't really meant to have sexual relations with mortal women."

Oh great! Clark thought bitterly. That just meant he could never touch Lana or anyone else!

"Clark, I'm going to have to assume that the 'amnesia' this town has, has something to do with the sexual act you perpetrated upon this woman."

"Perpetrated upon? She was all over me, Dr. Swann! Look, none of this is the point! This woman/girl, is now sick! She.....when we were together, everytime I touched her body, my handprints were left upon her. Why did that happen? What is happening to her?"

Dr. Swann's mouth dropped open!

"Good God!"

"That's what I said!"

"Clark, I will try and find out what I can. I swear it. But for now, I think it's best if you go along with the rest of Smallville. Don't try and jog anyone's memory."

Clark nodded.  
"Thank you, Dr. Swann."

Lex shook his head as he stood in the caves. What the hell?! Where were all of the markings? What had happened?

First this devil crap with Lois Lane and now all of the carvings were missing.....as if they were never etched into the walls. Something was going on around here. Maybe he should pay a visit to Wolfram & Hart himself. He had a feeling this kind of thing was just their specialty.

The spaceship that had flown off to wherever, years ago, reappeared in the Kent barn, scaring the hell out of Jonathan Kent when he saw it. He hurried out of the barn, to get Martha, just as it landed in a soft bale of hay. What the Kent's, Clark, nor Angel knew, was that it's appearance, back in the Kent barn, was no coincidence or fluke. There was a new Kryptonian life about to be born. And he or she, would be all that Kal-El had failed to of this planet. 


	2. A Trip Back to Smallville

Chapter 2

Martha followed Jonathan out to the barn, and was just as horrified to see the ship, as her husband was.

"What do you think this means?" she asked him.

"Martha, if I knew that....if I had thought that after all that we've been through, that we would ever see this thing again....I'm going to load it into the back of my truck and drop it off of the old Cassidy bridge. With any luck it will sink to the bottom and that will be the end of that."

Martha shook her head.

"Honey, this thing came back from God knows where. I mean, what makes you think that dropping it down the deepest ocean, will do any good?"

"I don't want Clark seeing this thing." Jonathan said firmly. Neither heard Clark walking up behind them.

"You don't want me seeing what?" he asked.

Then he saw it. He looked at his parents.

"What's going on here?"

"Clark, the damned thing just reappeared! Your mother and I were talking about getting rid of the thing....you know, just dropping it into a river or something."

But Clark could not take his eyes of the ship that had brought him here. The ship that had begun to unlock some of the secrets of his true origins....none of them that great.

"No," Clark said, mesmerized by the sight still. "Leave it."

"You can't be serious!" Jonathan cried out. Martha touched his arm.

"Clark, honey, why don't you want to get rid of it?"

"Mom, I can't escape what I am. And everywhere I turn, what I am hurts people."

Jonathan and Martha looked at one another, then at their son.

"Where is that coming from?" Jonathan asked, looking concerned. But Clark knew he couldn't really say anymore. Not until he heard from Dr. Swann.

"Let's just leave it here for now." was all he said. "Is Lana in the house?"

"Son, let's talk about what you just said. Is there something going on? Do you know why this ship is back?" Jonathan asked. Martha peered at her son as well.

"No, Dad, I don't. All I'm saying is that if we don't fumble with it, we'll be fine, for now. I'm going in to see Lana."

"Clark, she's fine. I mean I made her some lunch and she's sleeping in one of the guest rooms. She was so relieved to get a clean bill of health from the doctor. I wonder if anyone heard anything about Chloe or Lois?"

Clark rubbed the back of his neck. Jonathan frowned. His son always did that when he was being less than honest about something.

"Clark, talk to us! Maybe we can help."

"Yes, maybe. But not now. I'm just going into the house to check on Lana." he said, turning and walking out of the barn. Clark knew he had not done that great a job in allaying his parents suspicions. If anything, he had made things worse. He glanced back at his worried looking mother. Jonathan was covering the ship with tarp.

Was it possible that that ship was back because of what had happened between Lois and him? It just seemed so far fetched, but it was also too coincidental. Then again, why would the two events be related anyway?

Clark walked up towards the house. He could see that Lana was out on the porch talking to someone. It was Chloe's father, Ned Sullivan(I don't know what Chloe's father's name is, so I just gave him one!). Lana looked at him and Mr. Sullivan turned around.

"Hello, Clark. How are you?"

"Good.....is there any news on Chloe? Or Lois?"

"Uh, yes and it's not good. I have to get to Los Angeles right away."

"Is that where they are?" Clark asked. Lana walked down off of the porch and linked arms with Clark.

"Uh, yes, and that's really all I can say. I actually came over to speak to your folks, Clark. Are they around?"

"Out in the barn." Clark said faintly, barely feeling Lana's touch. She looked up at him, as Mr. Sullivan walked past him and out towards the barn.

"Are you alright?" Lana asked, stroking his arm.

"Uh yeah....no. What did Mr. Sullivan say to you about Chloe and Lois?"

"Not much more than he said to you....oh, but he did say something about going to the police."

"The police?! Because of Chloe or Lois?"

"Probably Chloe. I know this is a terrible thing to think or even say, but I'm feeling kind of relieved."

"What?!"

"I know how horrible that sounds, but I'm getting the feeling that there is no 'disease'. I mean, I don't know what those people really died of, but I just think that whatever is happening to Chloe and Lois, is just happening to them. Maybe we don't need to worry."

"Lana, if Mr. Sullivan has went to the police, then he thinks someone did something to Chloe...maybe even Lois." he said, trying to sort out the information in his mind. Connor was the last person he saw with Chloe. And he knew what had happened to Lois.....

"I understand that, Clark. I do. And I understand that this person or persons, might still be around. I guess what I'm saying, and God knows I know this sounds terrible, but I would rather this be something like that, then some unstoppable disease that can't be identified.....though I'm still not getting why Mr. Sullivan went to the police unless, God Clark, do you think that maybe Chloe and Lois were poisoned?"

Clark realized he was uncomfortable with all of Lana's theorizing. He pulled her into his arms and planted a kiss on her lips. Lana smiled up at him.

"What was that for?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I'm just glad that you're okay, that's all." he said, pulling her into his arms. He knew he would have to go out Los Angeles himself, and find out what was going on.

General Sam Lane was not buying any of his daughter's nonsense about not knowing HOW she got pregnant! And Chloe....Mother of God! He had thought she was a good girl!

But, he kept that to himself, for now. These people, here at Wolfram & Hart, seemed to think that both girls were assaulted by some kind of demonic perv! Well these people were damned well going to find out who this bastard was!

Fred, meanwhile, was in her lab, as Wesley continued to pour through book after book.

"I'm waiting for Lois's test results. I already called Chloe's father. Her baby looks as if it's human." Fred told him.

Fred had shown Wesley photographs of the 'S' emblem that was on Lois's stomach. It disturbed him that this marking was on that part of her body. It was almost as if it was supposed to announce that she was carrying a baby or something. But why?

Wesley set his book down. He had filled Fred in on what Angel told him, facts that they were keeping from the General, of course.

"There is another problem that we have all failed to consider."

"Which is?" Fred asked.

"That spell didn't completely work on Connor. Eventually, memories of Angel did filter into his consciousness. I now wonder if the same will happen to Lois and Chloe.....and the whole town of Smallville, for that matter."

"Wesley if that happens, then Angel is in trouble! I mean the police will be looking for him."

"Maybe, maybe not. And Chloe Sullivan obviously doesn't remember that she was in a relationship with Connor. So her pregnancy is a mystery to her. But you said from examining Lois, that she had sexual relations with someone very recently."

Fred nodded.

"Yes, that was very evident. I wish you all had told me about this spell, earlier, or I wouldn't have told the General my suspicions about some deviant spirit thing running around raping people. Lois had sex with someone that was not completely human and was impregnated, probably almost instantly."

Wesley reached for his book again.

"What if Lois thought that her partner WAS human?"

"So you don't think she was attacked by anything, when the spell took affect?"

"No....I think that whoever this person, or thing is, appears no different from you or I.....wait a minute. Look at this!"

"Look at what?" Fred asked, leaning over to see. Spike walked in, unannounced and joined them.

"So, what's going on with the girls? Find out anything yet?"

"Spike...." Fred began warningly. But Spike held up his hands.

"I haven't been bothering them. Hell, I don't think I could get past Lois's sodding father! Now, what have you found out."

Wesley pointed at a page that had a picture of what appeared to be scrolls in it. Spike looked from Fred to Wesley.

"What the bloody hell is that?"

"It's the So'Dath Scrolls."

"So?" Spike asked, a bit sarcastically. Fred glanced over at him.

"Well I would think that you would know a little something about them. Angel too...you know....because you were involved with a Slayer."

"What does Buffy have to do with this?"

"Nothing, specific." Wesley answered. "But the So'Dath Scrolls say that one particular Slayer will emerge. One who's mother will bear the emblem signaling his or her birth. And the child will be powerful. Powerful enough to either help, or hurt, mankind."

Spike thought the whole thing sounded like a crock! But as he glanced over at the picture, he pointed to something.

"What is that thing?"

Wesley looked at him.

"Our Ms. Lane has something like that on her stomach."

Spike hadn't had a chance to see Lois's stomach.

"You're bloody kidding me? She has handprints and a big 'S' looking thing on her belly?"

Fred shook her head though.

"You know, Wes, the 'S' on her stomach isn't really in a circle. It's more emblem shaped."

"I realize that, but what else could it be? I mean what else could have done what it's done and..."

"Wait a minute!" Spike interrupted. "How does one get one of these circles on you? I mean come on! Did Lois have to shag any bloke in the street to get that? Or someone in particular?"

Wesley paged through the book.

"It doesn't say."

"Great! Well you can't tell that girl in there that." Spike warned. Fred bit her lip.

"Spike's right. I mean it is bad enough that they think some demon rapist got ahold of Lois. This would just compound the problem."

"What about the other girl? Her cousin?" Spike asked.

Wesley glanced at Fred.

"She's just pregnant in a normal, ordinary way."

"So back to Lois....does this mean that she's a Slayer herself, or the mother of a powerful one to be?"

"It looks like the mother of one. If Lois had anything in her that remotely seemed Slayer like, she would've been approached long before now." Wesley answered.

Chloe got out of her bed and sat next to Lois's. Lois was swiping at tears.

"Lois, we'll find out what happened to both of us."

"You know....I don't even so much care about the fact that I'm pregnant. I really don't. But the way my father looked at me just now...."

"Please! Wait until my father gets here. I guess maybe it's hard for them to understand that we honestly don't know how we got into this predicament."

"Predicament? You call what's happening to us a 'predicament'? Who's going to believe that you don't know who the father of your baby is Chloe? Huh? And these markings on me and.....I just wish I could remember something!"

"I've been thinking about that. Why don't we remember anything? Fred tested us for drugs and nothing, but yet, we clearly were drugged. Especially you and....."

Chloe stopped talking when she noticed Lois's face contort with pain.

"Lois? Lois, what is it?"

"I.....I don't know! I think this baby is kicking....HAAAAARRRDDD!" Lois began to scream. Frightened, Chloe jumped off of the bed and ran out of the room to get help. Lois suddenly stopped screaming, as the kicking subsided. She struggled to sit up and pull up her gown.

Her stomach was distended! Mother of God! What had she done to deserve this? What? She was generally an okay human being! Why was this happening to her?"

Chloe came running back with Fred and General Lane. Lois looked at them, then felt herself beginning to pass out. For what Lois saw, were the skeletal forms of Chloe, Fred and her father. Kind of like what one would see on an X-Ray.

Harmony jumped up, as Lex Luthor entered Wolfram & Hart. Damn! Damn! Damn! What she wouldn't do to be able to look in a mirror right now!

God, how she's love to get with Lex! Mrs. Lex Luthor.....Harmony Luthor....of course, the vampire thing would be tricky but....

"Harmony Kendall?" he asked, taking her hand and kissing it. "No one told me that the new liaison to the Senior Partners would be so beautiful."

Harmony giggled and slowly removed her hand.

"Thank you Mr. Luthor...."

"Call me, Lex. Why don't you take me to General Lane now. And after, we can have a little chat. I am in need of your firm's research lab for a little problem I now have."

Angel got out of his car that he parked on the side of the road. The sun had just went down.

He stared at the Kent farm. Something had drew him here. Something that told him that the key to what was happening to Lois Lane, lay with one of the inhabitants of this residence.

Angel cracked his knuckles. Was it possible that Clark Kent had had something going with Lois on the side? And now because of Connor's spell, neither Lois, nor Clark, remembered it? Was he her baby's father?

Angel turned and got back into his car. He then turned on his car light and picked up the secret file that he had forced Harmony to get from the Senior Partners. Only Harmony and himself, were the only ones that knew. This was not good, since Angel had never known Harmony to be able to keep a secret.

And of course, he hated lying to Wesley and Fred.

The file was on Clark Kent. As Angel read through it, he realized that it explained a whole lot, but did not definitively mean that.....

Angel pulled out a picture that had an 'S' inside of an emblem. He then put the picture aside. It was time to find out what was going on here, and whether the spell that was cast upon this town, could be reversed in someway.

Angel got of his car again and began to walk up towards the farmhouse. It was then that a noise startled him. A noise coming from the barn.

Angel slowly veered away from the house, crouching and hurried towards the barn. He slipped in through an unlocked door and looked around. The noise, a humming sound, was coming from underneath that tarp over there. 


	3. Closing In

Chapter 3

Angel eased over to the tarp and lifted it up. What the hell?!

It appeared to be some sort of little....more like a mini flying saucer or ship or something. Angel blinked, thinking back to the file he had on Clark Kent. He had first arrived on the day that this town had a terrible meteor shower. One that had killed people. This ship looked tiny enough to carry a baby.

And the meteor rocks were really bits of the planet Krypton. Boy, Angel had encountered quite a lot in his 300 hundred years of life.....and the time he spent in a hell dimension. But this.....

He heard someone coming and looked around. Should he hide? Probably.

Angel looked at the ship. It had stopped humming. He looked around and found two hay bales stacked on top of one another. He hurried over and hid behind them.

Meanwhile, Clark and Lana walked in, holding hands.

"Okay, Clark, what did you want to tell me?" Lana asked. They began to walk upstairs to his loft.

"I was thinking that maybe I should go to L.A. and see how Chloe and Lois are." Angel heard Clark say. Angel rolled his eyes! He just bet that Clark thought he should hightail it to L.A.! The more time he spent just in this barn, the more sure he was that Clark knew what was going on with Lois.

Angel raised up a bit, so he could see up in the loft. He could only see the top of Clark and Lana's heads, but what he really wanted to see were Kent's hands! Angel suspected that if Clark rested his hands on one of those prints that adorned Lois Lane's body, it would be a perfect fit! He shook his head and crouched back down again. And he had thought Lex Luthor was bad! "Clark, I'm worried about them too. But you heard Chloe's father. Maybe this is a private, family thing. We'll find out what's wrong when they're ready to let us know. Now, I want to talk about something else."

"Okay.....what is it?"

Lana swallowed, then just came out with it.

"I think we've waited long enough."

"For what?"

"Clark! For the two of us to finally make love. I'm ready, Clark. I'm really ready." she breathed, kissing him.

Oh brother! Angel thought with disgust. Then, his cellphone rang.

Both Clark and Lana stopped kissing! Clark looked around and with his x-ray vision, could see that there was someone behind a hay bale....next to the ship.

"What is that? That was a phone ringing." Lana said, looking around as well. Meanwhile, Angel muttered a curse, having forgotten to turn off his cell. He slowly raised up.

"Clark!" Lana screamed, pointing. But Clark stared Angel down. What was HE doing back here?

Clark turned and put an arm around Lana.

"Lana....uh, that's my Pysch professor. I forgot that I asked to meet him here."

"He's a professor?" Lana asked, frowning.

"Yes....uh hello Professor Angel!" Clark called down. Angel raised a brow. What had Kent called him?

Clark pulled Lana by the hand, as they walked down the stairs. Angel edged towards them.

"Yes, Lana, this is Professor Angel and I needed to talk to him about my Pysch grade."

"Hello, Professor Angel." she said.

Angel smiled at her, then looked at Clark.

"That's right....Clark, you're in danger of flunking."

"Clark, no!" Lana cried out. Clark let go of her hand.

"Lana, I need to talk to him alone. And could you not say anything to my folks? I wouldn't want them to find out about this."

"Yes," Angel chimed in. "Not when there's a chance for a D- or something."

Clark gave him a harsh look.

"Or maybe a C." Angel amended. Clark turned and kissed Lana. Lana smiled at Angel.

"It was nice meeting you, Professor Angel. Try and do what you can for Clark, okay?"

"I will!" Angel said, a bit over enthusiastically. Both Clark and Angel watched as Lana walked out of the barn. They then faced one another.

"Obviously, by the fact that you covered for me, I take it that the spell didn't work on you."

"Spell? Is that what this is? This amnesia everyone has?"

"Everyone except for you, Clark. Look, Connor, my son, made a deal with the firm I run, Wolfram & Hart...."

"You run Wolfram & Hart?"

"You've heard of them?"

"I know you had one of your goons kill a woman to get information about me!" Clark went off. "I suppose you were the one that had that woman give me the red Kryptonite ring?"

Angel just stared at him.

"I have NO idea what you're talking about. Why don't you tell me what you need to tell me first, then I'll tell you why I'm here." Angel suggested.

45 minutes later, both men had gotten their stories out. Angel, for his part, was secretly fascinated by Clark's origins and his beginnings. He would've liked a nice couple like the Kent's to take care of Connor. Granted, a nice couple does believe they raised Connor. But still, if he had to choose a life for his son, this simple one, out in the middle of nowhere, would've been ideal. Though, Clark did seem kind of lost, not knowing exactly what he could do, powerwise, etc. He was rather isolated.

Angel was a bit concerned about this business of the ship. He glanced over at it. Clark said they hadn't seen it in years, and now, during this stressful time, it just shows back up? He had the feeling that this was another part of the problem that they did not need!

Meanwhile, Clark rolled his tongue around in his mouth. Connor's spell had altered reality, but not enough to wipe away consequences. Chloe was pregnant with his child.

And Lois was pregnant with his.

Angel spoke next.

"So you would've never slept with Lois, if you hadn't been affected by this red Kryptonite? That's what that rock is called?"

"Yes...it's fragments from my home planet." Clark said quietly, unable to focus. Lois. Lois was carrying his child. What was he going to do? What was he going to tell Lana? Would his child have all of his strengths and weaknesses? What was he going to tell his parents?

What was he going to tell Lois?

Angel could only imagine what was going through Clark's mind right now. He had to somehow explain this pregnancy to his girlfriend and somehow make her understand that he was not himself when the child was conceived, without revealing the fact that he wasn't quite human. Angel's thoughts moved to Connor. He would have to be told as well. There was no getting around it that he could see.

"Is there anyway to reverse this spell?" Clark asked. "Maybe turn back time?"

Angel's phone rang again.

"Hold that thought." he said, answering it. "Angel."

"Angel, it's Wesley. There have been quite a few developments since we last spoke. Lois Lane's pregnancy has been....well troublesome."

"In what way?" Angel asked. Clark turned away from him. His eyes fell upon the stall that he and Lois had made love in. Clark ran a hand over his face. He had to see Dr. Swann. This pregnancy made it all the more critical that they find out exactly what the consequences of his time with Lois, would be."

"Tell Luthor we don't have time for him, Wesley!" Angel snapped. Clark turned back around.

"Lex is there?" But Angel was still on the phone with Wesley. Clark was really unnerved now! Why was Lex in L.A.?

"Look, I may have some answers soon. Tell him we don't have time to figure out anything about a cave, goodbye!"

Angel hung up and turned back to Clark.

"What's going on? Why is Lex there?"

"Lex is the one that referred General Lane to us about Lois. He wants our research department to investigate some cave markings that have suddenly disappeared."

"The markings are gone? Great!"

"You've seen this cave?"

"I've been there. Many times. The markings have to do with my arrival here. Though I don't understand why Connor's spell would make those disappear"  
Angel took a deep breath.

"Maybe it wasn't Connor's spell, Clark. Look, from what you've told me, your affair with Lois wrought many repercussions and...."

"Lois and I did not have an affair! I told you I wasn't myself....God, Angel, what am I going to say to her? Have you seen her? Does she know how this happened? Does she remember anything?"

"She has no idea and to be frank, I don't think her father is buying that. Though, he does kind of believe that she was raped by some kind of demonic pervert."

"Raped?! First of all I'm no 'demonic pervert'!"

"I didn't say you were! I'm using the General's words!" Angel protested.

"And another thing: I was a....a....well, I wasn't very experienced. Lois did almost everything...... and quite well....but the point is that.....God, Angel, I remember that every area of her body that I touched, my hands just burned an imprint onto her. I remember that at the time, I didn't know why it was happening."

Angel felt for him. He sounded confused and a bit frightened. That and he knew from experience, what regret felt like. Regret when you had done things to hurt people, when one was not 'quite themselves'.

"Let's go see your friend, Dr. Swann. I'll fill him in on what's happening and then I can take something back when I return to L.A."

"I'm going with you to LA.."

"Clark, no, I mean, I still have to find Connor and tell him about Chloe. Telling Lois would be like revealing your secret. Then General Lane would have to be told. We'll figure something out."

"I can't let Lois go through this alone."

"She's not alone. She has Chloe, her father.....and even Spike has taken a liking to her."

"Spike? Who is that? Your dog?" Clark asked, confused.

"No.....not quite. I just think that your presence there will look suspicious."

"I don't care. I have to see how she is. What did your friend on the phone say?"

Angel decided to lie. He couldn't tell Clark that the baby was growing at a rate faster than normal, or that Lois was experiencing strange symptoms....

"Can you see through things?" Angel suddenly asked.

Clark tilted his head.

"Why would you ask me that?"

"Just curious."

Clark gave Angel a hard look.

"Yes I can see through solid objects....except for lead. I don't know why that is though."

Angel nodded. The baby probably had Clark's powers. Now Lois had them, through their child.

Clark sensed Angel was hiding something from him. Probably a lot from him. He looked past Angel and towards the ship, that was still under the tarp. They needed to get to Dr. Swann right away.

Just as they began to leave the barn, the humming noise started up again. Clark and Angel looked over at the tarp.

"It was that noise that drew me to the barn." Angel admitted. Clark walked over to it and pulled the tarp off. The ship was lit up and began to rise. Clark backed away and both he and Angel ducked, as it took flight and zoomed out of the barn, missing the open door and crashed through the wood, off into the night.

Jonathan, Martha and Lana came running onto the porch.

"What was that?!" Lana asked, shocked. Jonathan looked at Martha. The ship was gone. What did that mean?

Lois had been given a sedative, to keep her calm. Fred wasn't worried about it hurting the baby.

It didn't seem like anything could.

Lex left Harmony's office, very dissatisfied. Who was this Angel sonofabitch? Who the hell was he to turn down any request of his?

Lex came upon a forlorn looking General Lane, sitting down near the infirmary. Lex slowly approached him and sat down.

"How is Lois?"

"My Lo is turning into some kind of creature!" he blurted out. Lex's eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Well, no, but whatever she's carrying isn't human! I mean, the people here think it will look human but will have extra special abilities."

"Extra special abilities? Like?"

General Lane looked at Lex.

"My daughter, through this kid, can see through things! Jesus! She's not keeping this freak! She's not!"

"General, this 'freak' is going to be your grandson, or granddaughter. Surely you don't mean what you say."

"I do! And I plan to make arrangements for Wolfram & Hart to take this baby as soon as it's born. They can place him or her with God knows whoever. I just want whoever did this to my little girl, caught!"

Lex stood up.

"With all due respect, General, it doesn't sound like Lois is giving birth to a monster or anything. He'll be human but with special gifts. I don't think you should just be so quick to decide something like this in haste."

"What are you talking about? What choice does my Lo have? How is she going to have any kind of decent life raising a kid from some demon or worse yet, an alien or something!"

"Would you be so against Lois raising the child, if she were married?"

"To the creep that did this?! No, absolutely not!"

"I was actually thinking of someone else. Like....me."

General Lane just stared at Lex.

"Is this a joke?"

"I never joke, General, not about marriage. I've actually always been secretly fond of your daughter...."

Meanwhile, off in the shadows, Spike shook his head with disgust! What a bloody load of poppycock! Luthor has always been 'secretly fond' of Lois! Spike had no doubts whatsoever, that that was news to her!

But as he watched General Lane, his dead heart sank. Spike could see that Lane was warming up to pawning his daughter off on this ponce, Luthor. Yes, he was quite familiar with the family, though not with Lex.....but his grandfather Lyle.

Back in the day, Spike and his ex-flame, Drusilla, used to frequent many parties that the mogul used to attend. They had both eaten many of his mistresses as well. They always used to taste so good. Yeah, old man Luthor had had very good taste in women.

Spike backed away and walked off to find Wesley and Fred. He hoped like hell that Angel found out something that could help this situation, that was progressively getting worse. Lex Luthor hadn't come up with that nonsense about marrying Lois, until he heard the General say that he was giving this baby to Wolfram & Hart.

Lex wanted this child, not the mother. And chances were, it was so Luthorcorp could make some kind of profit. The poor kid.

Meanwhile, the ship, landed on the roof of the Wolfram & Hart building on Los Angeles, California. 


	4. Something Kryptonian This Way Comes

Chapter 4

Wesley set down a book on the scrolls, just as Fred walked in.

"Hear anything from Angel yet?"

"Yes, and now I'm not so sure we're on the right track."

Fred sat down next to him.

"You don't think Lois's child could be the one from the scrolls? What did Angel say?"

"Not much, but he did intimate that he's onto something. A different path than we're on."

"I don't understand." Fred said.. She the looked over as Spike sauntered in.

"We've got trouble." he announced.

"Is it Lois?" Fred asked. Wesley sat up.

"No, she's asleep from what I can tell. First of all, Chloe's father's here and it looks as if he's giving her a hard time." Spike confirmed.

Fred frowned.

"I guess it's a good thing her and Lois are in separate rooms then. But that was to be expected. I mean I'm sorry, but Chloe's pregnancy appears to be normal, so I guess a rational person would also think that she's lying about not knowing how this happened."

"But her pregnancy is not normal, not really." Wesley said quietly. "Connor is the product of two vampires. Surely, something in Chloe's child will reflect that."

"And," Spike continued, "that Luthor ponce is trying to weasel his way into the Lane family."

Both Wesley and Fred looked confused.

"What are you talking about, Spike?" Wesley asked impatiently.

"I'm saying I overheard Luthor offering to marry Lois. I also heard her father say that he was making Lois turn her baby over to this firm."

"Oh my God!" Fred cried out. "What's the matter with him?"

"Well, Fred, we haven't been able to give the man much good or accurate news. He's scared. He's scared for his daughter." Wesley said.

"Yeah, well, if Luthor gets his way, he'll be this kid's Daddy. And I can bloody well tell you he's not doing this because he's a stand up guy." Spike said darkly. "When he found out that Lois's kid had powers, you could see his eyes just light up."

Fred swallowed. Everyone knew about Luthorcorp, and it's research department. They had many government contracts and held the patents on thousands of inventions and formulas. Fred wondered if Lois's child would be his child, or another invention.

"I get the feeling," Wesley said, "just from the talk I had with Angel, that he knows who the father of Lois's baby is."

"Handprint guy?" Spike asked. Fred swatted him!

"Yes. He's the key to all of this. Once we know who he is, we'll find out if our theory about Lois and the So'Dath scrolls, will hold up."

Lois awoke and tried to sit up. The pain was gone. But the dream that she had had, that still seemed very real.

"Easy now." Lex said, helping her back down onto her pillow. Lois stared at him if he was crazy. What was he doing here?

"Lex Luthor? What's going on?"

"Nothing. I was concerned and I flew here to find out how you are."

"Why?"

Lex smiled gently at her.

"I can't be concerned about a friend?"

Lois sat up.

"Lex, uh, what are you doing here?" she repeated. She wasn't in the mood to go into the fact that they weren't friends, nor had she really ever said more than two words to him and when she did, it was through her father.

"Well, as you know, your father and I have conducted business before and when I heard about you, I was on the first plane here."

Lois and Lex stared at one another. Lois then broke off eye contact and looked over at Chloe's empty bed.

"Where is Chloe?"

Lex glanced over as well.

"She's been moved to another room."

"Why?"

"Well, I think the doctors felt you and this baby needed to be monitored closely." Lex said soothingly, reaching out to touch her stomach. Lois whipped his hand off of her!

"Okay, Lex, I don't mean to be rude, but something just reeks here. Why would you care anything about me, or this baby, beyond the perfunctory, 'get well soon'? Does my father know you're here?"

The doors opened, and Spike walked in. Lex sighed and stood up from his chair. Lois Lane was a smart young woman. In an odd way, he found that challenging, the idea that putting a wedding ring on her finger would not be as simple as 123.

But the General did seem a bit mollified by the idea of Lois becoming Mrs. Lex Luthor, and the baby having a father. Lex looked at Lois's stomach. A son with abilities. There would be nothing Luthorcorp would not be able to accomplish, if he had a powerful secret weapon under his belt....under his roof and with his last name.

"Hi, Spike." Lois said, glad for the interruption. Lex was creeping her out, especially with the way he was looking at her. It wasn't that he wasn't good looking, but Lois was a realist. The man had never looked her way twice, ever. And her being pregnant, couldn't be making her look suddenly desirable. Something else was up.

Lex turned and offered his hand to shake to Spike.

"Spike, interesting name....interesting hair."

"Yeah....what the bleedin' hell happened to yours?" Spike asked crudely, eyeing Luthor's shiny head and ignoring Luthor's proffered hand.

"Do you work here?" Lex asked pointedly. Lois could feel the testosterone about to run wild and decided to put an end to this.

"Uh, yes, he does, Lex. Listen, thanks for coming by and it was nice seeing you. I need to talk to Spike now."

But Lex was looking Spike up and down. He then pointed at him.

"Have I met or seen you someplace else before?"

"You haven't." Spike said flatly. What the hell was wrong with this ponce? Lois had tried to give him the gentle bum's rush, but Luthor apparently couldn't, or wouldn't, take a hint.

"Lex, I really need to talk to Spike." Lois said a bit more forcefully. Lex looked at her. Their courtship couldn't be rushed, yet, it really did need to be, unfortunately. This baby was growing at a rapid rate, and the General preferred that Lois be married before the birth.

But he did have an idea on that. One that he run by the General. He smiled at Lois.

"Lois, get some rest. I'll be right outside with your father."

Lois just nodded. Why wasn't that a comforting thought? Spike and Lex eyeballed one another, before Lex left the room. Spike then turned to Lois.

"I'm glad you got rid of that Nancy boy. Did he upset you much, pet?"

Lois smiled up at him. Pet. He called her pet.

"No, it's just weird having him here. He's someone I barely speak to and I woke up to find him hovering over me like a concerned lover or something."

Spike said nothing about what he suspected and sat down in the chair Lex had vacated.

"Well why don't you forget about him now? Did you have a nice rest?"

Lois shook her head.

"No. Is Chloe gone because you all are afraid that she'll get worse or something, if she's in the same room as me?"

"No, it's nothing like that. Besides did you want to be in the same room with her when she saw her father?"

"Uh, no. I guess you're right."

Spike peered at her. Lois looked a bit peaked.

"You didn't get any rest at all, did you? Did Luthor do something?"

"No, no. Nothing like that. Spike, I have had weird dreams before, but this one....it just seemed so real."

"Well tell me a bit about it."

Lois swallowed.

"I was in some other land or on another planet. God, this sounds so crazy, but like I said before, it was also just so real. A woman was giving me a tour."

"A tour?" Spike repeated. Lois nodded.

"A tour. She said she wanted me to see where my son came from."

"Your son? So you're thinking boy?"

"I haven't been 'thinking' anything really. This woman, her name was Lara.....Lady Lara."

"Oh, so you were at court or something?"

"No, I mean, I guess there was something sort of royal about it. She said that the 'House of El' was my son's birthright. Oh God, and to make things worse, you should've seen the get up she was wearing! It was like a black bodysuit....you know, a bodysuit like what Olympic speedskaters wear, only black....and there was some kind cloaks over them. I mean fashion wise, it really sucked. I'm not even sure what color hair the woman had."

"Lois....maybe this has to do with the baby?" Spike suggested, in an attempt to comfort her. But his eyes searched her surroundings, the nightstand and such, for any illegal drugs.

"Of course it has to with this baby! Everything that's happened has to do with him....or her. I have a wild imagination but not that wild....or cold. That's what it was, the woman, this Lara, was cold. She was telling me how things were going to be, as if I had no choice in the matter."

The doors opened and Fred hurried in. She smiled at Lois.

"How are you feeling?"

"I've been better"  
"Spike, Wesley and Gunn need to see you. It's kind of important."

"Okay, give me just a few more seconds."

Fred nodded but really didn't want to. She liked Spike, really she did, but personally, she didn't think it was a good idea for him to be spending so much time with Lois.

Fred stood some distance away. She needed to examine Lois again to see if the baby had grown any in just the last hour. Spike looked at Lois again. She lowered her voice as she told him one last piece of interesting information.

"Lady Lara....she said that I was having Kal-El's child."

"Kal-El? Meaning his last name is El? Maybe he is royalty."

"On what planet, Spike?! Why would I have such a vivid and strange dream? Why would my baby be dreaming about this kind of stuff? And who the hell is Kal-El? I don't know him....but maybe he goes to school with me. I mean that's where this had to have happened, right?"

Spike touched her hand.

"It was just a dream, luv. Fred here is going to make sure you're comfortable and then I'll be back in a bit."

Lois nodded as Spike let go of her hand. He walked over to Fred.

"What's going on?"

"Security has found some sort of ship on the roof."

"Ship? As in an outerspace kind of ship?"

"Yeah....God this just keeps getting weirder and weirder! A couple of men from Security tried to lift it and bring it inside. The ship emitted some kind of ray and disintegrated them."

"Bloody hell! What's the plan?"

Fred shook her head.

"I don't know. Like I said, Wesley and Gunn are in Angel's office now, trying to figure that one out. They need your help."

Clark and Angel arrived at Dr. Swann's laboratory. It was a private building, and Clark was more than a bit surprised, when he turned around to find Angel still standing outside.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I can't come in. Dr. Swann has to invite me in."

"What?!"

"Vampires can't just walk into buildings and houses without being invited in."

"You were in my barn." Clark noted.

Angel stared at him. That's right! Somehow, he never thought about it.

"And you were in the school."

"Yeah but schools are different altogether. Your university has a sign inviting all in that seek knowledge. That's okay. I don't think barns count." Angel answered.

"Oh. Well I'll go and get Dr. Swann. I mean he's in a wheelchair though...."

"All he has to say is that he invites 'Angel' in, and it will be fine." Angel said, as his cellphone rang. Clark stood by as he answered it. Angel looked at him.

"Go, Clark! I'll be along in a sec."

Clark turned and headed towards Dr. Swann's lab. He found him looking at some charts. He looked up when he saw Clark.

"Clark, I'm glad you're back. The ship, I was able to track the ship again."

"Yeah, I've seen it. It showed back up in my barn before flying off to God knows where!

"It's in Los Angeles."

Clark felt himself go cold.

"Los Angeles? Why?"

"It's on top of the Wolfram & Hart building. I don't know, it just seems to be waiting...."

"Lois....the woman that I slept with, she's pregnant. She's pregnant, what does that mean?"

Dr. Swann looked stunned.

"Dr. Swan? What does it mean? Look, I have the head of Wolfram & Hart outside....."

"What?!"

"Yes, he's a vampire...."

"I know who, and what, he is and he's going to stay outside! I'm not inviting him in and you should stay away from him!"

"Angel is complicated. But he's not all bad. Lois is at his building now, while her father and others try to figure out what has happened to her. He knows things that might be able to help! Dr. Swann....."

"Fine. I will invite him in. But...."

"But what?"

"Clark, that ship hasn't even been a blip on my radar screen in years. The fact that this young woman is pregnant with your child, and its emergence, is not an accident."

Clark stared at him.

"What are you saying? That the ship wants my child? That doesn't make any sense....wants it for what? Where would it take him....or her?"

"I don't know for sure, but I'm thinking that the 'where' , would be wherever you were, those months you were missing, two years ago. Do you remember what happened during that time?"

Clark sank into a chair. He shook his head.

"Just bits and pieces. I have to get to Lois. I have to hide her from the ship....from my real father or whoever this is that's after our child."

"That would mean telling her the truth." Dr. Swann said gently.

"I don't know what I'm going to do about that. I just know I have to be there." Clark answered. Dr. Swann pursed his lips.

"Fine. And I invite Angel in."

Fred ran to Chloe's room. Ned Sullivan, General Lane and Lex Luthor were standing there, talking right by it. Ned looked panicked.

"What is it? Is it something with my daughter? Oh God! I know I upset her when I spoke to her like that...."

Fred touched his arm.

"There's nothing you can do about that now. Let me just get in there, okay?" Fred said, hurrying into the room. One of her assistants came up to her. Chloe was asleep.

"What is it?" Fred asked. The assistant looked worried.

"I think there is something you need to see."

Fred followed the assistant over to the sleeping Chloe. She gently pulled up the young woman's gown. Fred backed away.

Chloe had an 'S' on her stomach. An 'S' in a circle, just like in the So'Dath Scrolls. Chloe, was going to be the mother of the powerful slayer, not Lois. 


	5. Connor Returns

Chapter 5

Ned Sullivan tried to peer into the room that his daughter was in. Lex pulled the General aside.

"We need to talk about Lois."

"What is it? Having trouble pouring on the charm? Look, in an ideal world, I would want my Lo to be married to someone she loved. But she doesn't have that luxury. And I know that you have the means to take care of her and the child."

"Yes, I do. But, your daughter is more suspicious that thrilled with my sudden attentions. Not that I blame her. General, her pregnancy is progressing at a rate that's unheard of. If you want Lois married before the child is born then the time to do it is now."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Get one of the doctors to give Lois a sedative. I'll bring in a Justice of the Peace. By the time she wakes up, she will be back in Smallville, in her new home, which is my mansion and we will bring some of the best doctors in the world in to ensure a safe, yet discreet delivery of this child."

"Wait a minute....if my daughter is asleep when the marriage ceremony is taking place, how is she going to say, 'I do'?"

"Well she won't. But believe me, for the right amount of money, that won't be a problem."

"I don't know...."

"General, your choices are limited here. And in the end, Lois will come around and realize that you just did what was best for her."

General Lane exhaled heavily. He was taking a big chance of having his Lo hate him for the rest of her life. But Luthor was right. Their options were limited.

"So, you call this Justice of the Peace...."

Lex rested a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll call him right now, General. I can get a ring here within the half hour. After we're married, I will have her helicoptered out of here. It will land right up on the roof."

"But should she be moved? Or even fly?"

"Lois will be out of it. The baby.....I doubt much could hurt this child. I think we should chance it, General. I just don't think we have the time for Lois to develop a 'fondness' for me."

"But she will, won't she?" General Lane asked, maybe for the first time. Now that there actually seemed to be a feasible solution this problem, he didn't want his little girl to be unhappy. Lex would make a fine husband, wouldn't he? Sure, Lois was a bit young for marriage, but the child, God help them, if the child was semi-normal, a husband and baby would give his daughter some perspective.

"I genuinely care for Lois, General. No, it's not love yet, but that will come with time. And we'll have other children. Lois and I are going to have a wonderful life."

The General nodded, then stopped someone in a white coat. Lex pulled out a roll of bills.

"My daughter has been very agitated. Would it be possible for you to give her something so she could sleep?" General Lane asked. Lex shoved 5 $100 bills in the white coat's hands. She nodded her assent.

Connor walked into Angel's office at Wolfram & Hart. Gunn was on the phone with Angel again. Wesley and Spike looked up.

"Connor?" Wesley asked, getting up to go over to him, while Spike appraised the young man. He looked more like Darla to him. Funny, he had never cared for Darla much, even though she had been his great, grandsire.

"Where is Chloe?" he asked, his eyes darting around. "And where's Angel?"

"Now calm down. How did you hear?"

"It's all over the Internet! Lois is the big story of course, with the handprints. By the way, I think Luthor is the one responsible for that."

Spike stood up.

"You think Luthor is the father of her baby?"

"Baby?! All it says online is that she has some sort of contagious rash and that Chloe could have it too. And who are you?"

"The name's Spike. I knew your mum, you know? Way back when."

Connor did not answer him. He really didn't know how to respond to that.

"Uh, okay, well does Chloe have this rash? Does this have anything to do with the spell? Angel did tell you all, didn't he?"

Gunn, meanwhile, realized Connor was in the room and walked over, handing the phone to Connor.

"Angel's on the line and he wants to talk to you." he said. Connor took the phone.

"What's going on here? And where are you?"

Angel was in Dr. Swann's lab. Clark and Dr. Swann were off in a corner, talking. He ignored his son's second question.

"Connor, I'm glad you're there. Chloe is pregnant."

Connor said nothing. He looked around at Wesley, Gunn and Spike. Wesley and Gunn were talking about something, but Spike was peering at him. Connor looked away.

"Pregnant?"

"Pregnant, Connor! I don't mean to yell, but her situation appears to be different from Lois's."

"Yeah, why don't you tell me about Lois's situation? Obviously the spell did something to her."

"Uh, no, I don't think so. Look, to make a long story short, Lois is pregnant as well. Didn't Wes or Fred tell you anything?"

"No one has had the chance....Chloe is having my baby, but doesn't remember me, does she?"

"No. She doesn't, Connor. Nor does Lois remember how she got pregnant."

"She didn't even have a boyfriend! Unless....it's Luthor, isn't it? You were there when she kicked him in the balls. She obviously had a thing for him. Maybe it went deeper."

"No, Luthor is not the father. Look, Connor, just take care of Chloe. When I get back, I'm going to go to the Senior Partners. We're going to reverse this spell somehow and get everyone out of this."

"But chances are Chloe will still be pregnant."

"Yes. And at least she'll remember it's yours."

Connor nodded.  
"Yeah, there is that. And Lois?"

Angel looked over at Clark.

"I don't know. Her situation is a bit more serious. I'm heading out for the airport now. I'll be bringing a few people along. Could you put Gunn or Wesley back on the phone?"

Connor had the distinct impression that his father had left out quite a lot. But all he could really think about was Chloe. He handed the phone to Wesley.

"Angel, there have already been plans made to blow up this ship from the air."

"Wesley, I think the ship is there for Lois's baby."

"What? Why?"

"Because of the father of the child. Look, I'm coming back and I'll explain everything when I get there. If the ship is just waiting, then it will keep until I get back."

"Angel, Lois's baby is growing at a faster rate than normal. What if she goes into labor before you get back? This ship shoots at anything that gets in its way. There's no telling how it plans to get to the baby."

"Then do everything within your power to keep Lois and the baby safe!" Angel ordered, ending the call. He then walked up to Clark and Dr. Swann.

"The ship is firing upon anyone that gets near it. We have to get back now. Dr. Swann, we could really use your help there. We will take you to my plane."

But Clark shook his head.

"I think I should go on ahead."

Angel frowned.

"Go on ahead? Clark, I'm offering you a ride on my company jet. You act as if you could get there faster or something. Did I miss something in your file?"

Dr. Swann looked pointedly at Clark. Clark sighed.

"I can kind of fly and run at accelerated speeds. But in this case, the flying would be faster."

Angel just stared at him.

"You can fly?"

"Yeah. Granted I've only really done it twice.....but I just get this feeling that with the ship attacking people, we can't wait. I can't wait. Not if something is after my child. I'm sorry. You take Dr. Swann on your plane, but I'm getting to L.A. my own way."

"Clark, wait a minute! Now if you're not good at this flying thing, you could have an accident or something!"

"I'll be fine. I have to be." Clark said, leaving the lab. Angel and Dr. Swann stared after him, before looking at one another.

"Okay....well, Dr. Swann, let's get going."

Connor headed down to Chloe's room. He unknowingly passed Lois's room. If he had looked in the window, he would've seen Lex slipping a ring on a sedated Lois's finger, while a Justice of the Peace, and General Lane, stood by.

Connor stopped short, when he saw Ned Sullivan talking to Fred. The two then began walking down a hallway. Connor eased over to the door of Chloe's room and peeked in through the window. She looked as if she were asleep.

He opened the door, stepped into the room, then closed it softly behind him. What was he doing? Chloe didn't have any memory of him and his being here could make things worse. What he should be doing is trying to make a deal with this firm, to reverse the damage he had done.

But he hadn't thought it was damage at the time, had he? He had thought he was setting Chloe free. Neither of them had known she was pregnant. Or at least Connor had not known.

Chloe awakened, her eyed fluttering. She then sat up and looked around. She was startled to see some guy near the door!

"Oh....who are you?" Chloe asked, still trying to half focus.

"Uh.....I....I....work here." Connor said.

"Oh. Well then you must know about this whole embarrassing situation." Chloe said, feeling self conscious, but not knowing why exactly. Connor moved closer.

"Embarrassing situation?"

"Yeah....you know with my cousin and I becoming impregnated by men we don't remember sleeping with. At least it seems I slept with someone human, I don't know about my poor cousin."

"Oh, that situation." Connor said. "Yeah, I was aware of it."

"So, are you here to give me some medication or something?" Chloe asked, half smiling.

"Uh....no, not really. I was just asked to check in on you."

"Oh." Chloe answered and yawned.

"You look tired." Connor noted.

"Yeah well this kind of thing can make you tired. Not to mention that my father thinks I'm lying through my teeth."

"I'm sorry."

"Why? There's certainly nothing for you to be sorry about. We don't even know one another." Chloe said, frowning a little. This guy had the oddest expression on his face.

Connor was now next to her bed, and his hand unwittingly touched her stomach. Chloe almost jumped!

"What are you doing?"

"Uh, nothing, look I'm sorry. I'm sorry about all of this, Chloe."

"Like I said before, there's nothing to be sorry about. Who are you, by the way?"

"My name is Connor." he said, finding that he was kind of hoping his name would ring a bell with her."

But Chloe gave him a blank stare.

"Hi, Connor. Listen, could you find out what's going on with my cousin Lois? I think she's in more trouble than I am."

"Yeah, sure." Connor said. But he did not move. Chloe tilted her head, just as Fred walked back in.

"Connor? Wes told me you were here."

Connor turned around to face Fred.

"I had to come." he said forcefully. Chloe raised a brow. What was that all about?

Fred pulled him aside and out of Chloe's hearing.

"I'm glad you're here because we do have trouble. I haven't had a chance to fill Wesley or Angel in on this yet, but it looks like the child that Chloe, and yourself conceived, is mentioned in a book of scrolls."

"What? You're losing me."

"Well let's go somewhere private and talk. Chloe has no idea about any of this, and I had to lie to her father, again, which is something we can't keep doing. Angel and you are going to have to decide what you want to do about that spell."

"Chloe was probably pregnant before the spell, right? Reversing it wouldn't change that, would it?"

"No. And we have no idea about whether Lois's condition would change either. That and I know Angel was worried about what you offered the Senior Partners in exchange for this deal in the first place."

Connor looked away.

"Oh no, Connor!"

"Don't worry about it, Fred. It's taken care of. Just tell me more about these scrolls and Lois. I know my father is back in Smallville looking for clues, but I told him that I think Lex is the father of Lois's child."

"The father of Lois's child couldn't be human, Connor. And Angel thinks he knows who it is."

Connor nodded.

"I got that feeling too." he said, giving Chloe another glance. She had laid back down. Fred called over to her.

"I'll be right back to check in on you."

Chloe nodded.

"And find out how Lois is doing, okay?"

Fred and Connor nodded, then walked out of the room. And it was as they stepped out into the hallway, that they got quite an eyeful.

Wesley and Spike had one end of a gurney that Lois was lying on. Lex and Sam Lane had the other end.

"What's going on here?!" Fred almost screeched. She hurried over to Lois, then looked at everyone. Connor eyed Luthor. He didn't know he was in the building.

"Why is she sedated?" Fred asked of no one in particular.

Lex threw some papers at Spike!

"Lois is now Mrs. Lex Luthor. I have a helicopter waiting on the roof. We will no longer be in need of Wolfram & Hart's services on this matter. I will care for my wife at home."

"Oh bloody hell!" Spike snapped. "She's unconscious for crying out loud! How could she have even said, 'I do'!"

"Did you perform the ceremony while she was asleep?" Wesley asked, appalled. He looked at General Lane.

"General, please! This is not the answer. Your daughter should not leave this building. We're this close to...."

"To what?! My daughter is going to have a baby, there is no getting around that. Lex has offered to give him, her or it, a name. His name. Now step aside." General Lane warned them.

"General, Mr. Luthor, there is something you need to know. There is a dangerous....device on the roof. If your helicopter even tried to land, it will be blown up." Wesley begged them.

Lex eyed Spike.

"Where did you get that patent nonsense from? The Billy Idol lookalike here? Get out of my way!"

"Lois and you will be killed if you try and go up there." Wesley warned.

Harmony appeared. She smiled at Lex.

"Your helicopter has landed. The Senior Partners have insisted that no one stops you from leaving."

"What?!" Fred, Connor, Wesley and Spike said in unison. Lex shoved the gurney away Spike. Two attendants in white, appeared so they could push it. Spike looked at General Lane and shook his head. They got onto the elevator that headed for the roof. Everyone turned to Harmony as the doors closed.

"Are you out of your soddin' mind?! Yeah, of course you are!" Spike hissed. But Harmony was unmoved.

"If your theories are right, then ship won't attack Lois or the baby. And although we have enjoyed Mr. Luthor's business, he is expendable." she said shortly. Actually, she was kind of pissed that he had married Lois. So she didn't much care what happened to Lex.

"This is ridiculous! We can't just let this happen!" Connor yelled, running for the door to the stairs. Spike and Wesley followed after him.

Lex, General Lane and the two attendants, were more than a bit startled by the sight of the strange looking ship. General Lane shook his head.

"I have a bad feeling about this. Let's take Lois back inside." he said, eyeing the ship. The Army should get a look at that thing.

"It's too late. The helicopter is landing now!" Lex yelled above the noise of the copter. One attendant ran to the helicopter door and opened it. The other attendant pushed the still sedated, yet newly married Lois to it, and proceeded to load her onto it. Lex shook the General's hand.

"I will take good care of her. I swear it." Lex said, turning and heading for the helicopter as well. As soon as the attendant closed his door, the ship emitted a ray that disintegrated the attendant!

"GET THIS THING OUT OF HERE!" Lex screamed. The other attendant and the General, ran for the roof door, and whipped it open, just as Wesley, Spike and Connor were about to rush out! They ended up crashing into one another so hard, that they lurched backwards and down the stairs!

The ship then began to blast the helicopter, hitting it's propellers and the front where the driver was, killing him instantly. Lex continued to scream!

"OH GOD! OH GOD!"

Lois was still asleep, as the helicopter fell off of the roof.

Clark managed to land, quite roughly, on top of the Wolfram & Hart building, just as the helicopter began to fall. Clark missed a ray blast himself as he leaped, headfirst off of the building and began to propel himself downward towards the helicopter, with the hopes of reaching it before it crashed to the ground. 


	6. Rescue

Chapter 6

Clark grabbed at one of the helicopter doors, but ended up pulling the handle off, thus losing it again. He managed to force his body downward until he was underneath the helicopter and pushed it back up towards the roof.

No one on the ground seemed to notice the impending danger, which Clark found odd. But, it did work to his advantage. He pushed the helicopter back up towards the roof, only to dodge another ray blast from the ship! Why was it firing at him?

Helicopter in hand, Clark saw another roof top and made his way over to it, just as Connor, Spike, Wesley, General Lane and the attendant, managed to disentangle themselves, and get back onto the roof. Connor was the first one to force the door open. He caught a glimpse of Clark flying over to the roof of a nearby building, just as the ship turned and aimed a ray towards them!

"Get back!" Connor yelled, shoving everyone back into the stairwell.

But the blast did not come.

"What the hell is going on out there?!" General Lane snapped. "Did the helicopter take off safely?! Is my daughter safe?!"

"The helicopter 'took off' just fine." Connor said briskly, shoving past everyone and hurrying down the stairs. He was going over to that building to confront Kent!

Spike grabbed his arm!

"You saw something, didn't you?" Spike asked, lowering his voice.

"I'll handle it!"

"The bloody hell you will! I can hear about as well as you can! There's no way that helicopter didn't crash to the ground."

Connor eyed the General and the attendant, who were arguing with Wesley.

"It didn't crash. Look, I will take care of this."

"No, why don't you take care of the girl that you made pregnant, okay? You don't work here, I'll take care of what needs to be done. Now what did you see?"

Connor turned and began running down the stairs. How could his father have hired such an insolent bastard? He wasn't telling Spike anything!

But Spike began following him.

"Doesn't matter, you know! I'm just going to follow you anyway!"

Meanwhile, the General gave Wesley hell!

"What the hell kind of half assed operation are you people running?!"

"You were warned about the danger on the roof." Wesley replied tersely. His eyes cut to Connor and Spike, who were heading back down the stairs at a rapid speed.

"You said a 'device' was up there! And to be honest, I thought you were lying! Hell, you people haven't been straight forward about my Lo since we've got here!"

The attendant slipped away and began to move down the stairs, leaving Wesley to take the majority of the guff.

"Yes, I confess for reasons that are unusual in nature, we have not been able to be as candid as we would have liked."

The General rubbed his face.

"I want to know that my daughter and son-in-law made it off of this roof alright!"

Meanwhile, Clark set the helicopter down and looked inside. Lex was either unconscious or had fainted. Lois looked out of it herself.

Clark pulled Lois off of the gurney and picked her up. He carried her over to a spot on the roof and began to lightly slap her face.

"Lois? Lois? Lois, wake up! Lois?" Clark continued, now wondering if she hadn't been drugged or something. Clark looked back over at Lex. What the hell were these two doing on a helicopter together? Why was Lois so out of it?

Clark then let go of her face and allowed his hand to wander down to her stomach. He was more than a bit surprised to feel how big her stomach was! He found that he could not let go of it, and continued to gently rub her stomach.....

Meanwhile, Lois, was not just asleep, but back on her tour of Krypton. She walked behind Lady Lara, taking in the woman's disgraceful attire. How could she wear that headdress thing on her head?

They passed by a mirror, and Lois could see that she was still dressed in her hospital garments. That was fine with her. They were preferable to the rags worn around here!

"Uh Lady Lara....."

"And this is Jor-El's laboratory." the woman said coldly.

"Okay.....who's Jor-El?"

"Kal-El's father."

"Yeah.....now who is Kal-El again?"

Lady Lara gave her a withering look. She then walked up to her and grabbed her chin!

"Mortal women! How my son could've chosen you as the life giving vessel, I will never know."

Lois jerked away from her!

"Listen, lady! I have NEVER met your son, okay? So I didn't choose to be the 'life-giving' vessel! Your boy drugged and took advantage of me and...."

"Insolent as well. Typical of mortal women. Your son will rule that backward and harsh dominion you refer to as Earth......

While Lois was getting her harsh lecture and forced history of Krypton, Clark made the decision to fly her back to Smallville. He picked her up and took a deep breath. He hoped like HELL, Lois did not wake up mid-flight!

Yes, this was the right thing to do. He would take her back to the farm and confess everything to his parents. The ship was killing innocent people here. It was after him....after his child. He could protect Lois better somewhere safe, away from a heavily populated area.

But, he would be putting his parents at risk.

Angel would just have to understand. His parents would have to be made to understand this business about the spell and Lana.....he would think of something.

Clark took another deep breath, told Lois to hold on, then leaped up into the air, just as the roof door smashed open and Connor and Spike went running towards him!

"CLARK!" Connor screamed up at him. Spike shoved Connor!

"You know him?! What the soddin' hell is going on here? Who is that and where is he taking Lois?!"

Connor turned to glare at Spike.

"I didn't ask for you to follow me up here, okay? This is none of your business!"

"Oh, you got that wrong, mate! Luthor married Lois while she was asleep!"

"What?!"

"Yeah! Baldy's got his eyes on the prize.....that kid that Lois is carrying has powers and Luthor plans to use that to his advantage! So some new guy coming along and flying off with her, isn't helping things!"

"Like I said before, Spike, this is none of your business!"

"I got to know that girl a bit, okay? She doesn't want to be married to Luthor and she doesn't want some weirdo that can fly, taking off with her! Bloody hell! When Angel gets back here...."

"Oooohhhhh!"

Connor and Spike turned to see Luthor making his way out of the wreckage. He blinked several times, as if he was having trouble focusing.

"Wh....wh.....what happened? Am I dead? Is this heaven?"

Spike snorted, put a hand up as if to say, 'talk to the hand' and walked back towards the roof door. Connor crossed his arms.

"Are you alright?"

"Who are you?" Lex asked, looking around. This wasn't the Wolfram & Hart rooftop, was it? Why weren't they dead? And.....LOIS!!!!

Lex turned to look back inside the helicopter. The pilot was dead. The gurney Lois was on was nearby, outside of the helicopter, but she was gone. Lex looked at the guy standing some distance away.

"Where is Lois? Answer me, damnit!"

Connor shrugged.

"Maybe you should be telling me."

"Oh what the hell! What's going on here?! Last thing I remember is that we were falling, Lois, the pilot and I, to our deaths. Now we're over on another building...."

Lex stopped talking. Connor soon understood why. The ship flew past them and off into the distance. Lex shook his head, not understanding, but Connor did. That ship was going off in the direction Clark and Lois had.

Lex ran over to the edge of the building and looked down. Lois wasn't dead that he could see. Maybe General Lane or some of the Wolfram & Hart execs, managed to save Lois and pull her out of the helicopter? Though that did not explain how he got all the way over here.

Lex hurried past Connor and towards the rooftop door. Connor stared at the helicopter and realized that Clark Kent was the father of Lois Lane's baby. He had been cheating on Lana with her, when the spell was invoked.

The sudden knowledge that his spell had nothing to do with Clark or Lois's problems, made his decision a little easier to bear. It was then that his cellphone rang. Connor answered it.

"Yes?"

"Connor? It's me." Angel said. "Wesley just called me...."

"Clark Kent flew Lois out of here."

"Great! We were meeting him there!"

"It doesn't matter. I'm going to the Senior partners. I'm going to reverse the spell."

"Connor, wait! What did you offer them in return?"

"It's done. None of this concerns you anymore. My only concern now is Chloe."

"I understand that, but.....okay, just don't do anything before I get there! I mean we don't know for sure that Clark and Lois won't be affected! She remembers nothing about how she got pregnant!"

"Well maybe it's time she did remember. Clark cheated on Lana. That situation is different from mine and Chloe's."

"Connor, Clark's background, his origins, this is big stuff, okay? Just don't do anything until I get there! Damnit! I was bringing someone who could help Lois."

"I won't do anything until you get here. After, I'm not making any promises." Connor said, hanging up. He too then walked to the rooftop door.

Meanwhile, Angel felt like throwing his phone! God! That boy was so stubborn! Dr. Swann appraised him.

"I take it my help is no longer needed."

Angel took a deep breath.

"Clark flew off with Lois. I think I get where his head is at. Maybe he's trying to keep the ship from killing innocent people."

Dr. Swann continued to stare at Angel.

"You know, I did not want to get into this earlier, but I am curious about something."

Angel lifted a brow and stared at him.

"Who was responsible for this person....the one shrouded in black, coming for you in the first place?"

Angel shrugged.

"You mean the thing that brought me the Kryptonite ring? I'm going to have to assume the Senior Partners. Their dream is to have Angelus running the firm, not Angel, the sensitive one."

"But how did they know that the Kryptonite would affect you in that way? How did they know that the red Kryptonite would affect Clark in a less than positive way? What was their goal?"

"You'd have to ask Luthor. I'm sure he's in cahoots with Wolfram & Hart."

"But because of the spell, neither Luthor, or even General Lane, remembers their original plans for both Clark and yourself. Something is just off here."

Angel agreed. But he could not think about that right now.

"Listen, why don't I have the pilots turn the plane around?"

"No. I'll stay put. Clark may need us sooner than he thinks. I don't believe this is a battle he can fight alone."

Angel sighed. Neither did he.

"What do you mean, Lois is married to Lex?" Chloe asked. Fred and Spike were standing at her bedside.

"It looks as if Lex got someone to give Lois a sedative so he could marry her without any resistance, I guess." Fred reasoned. "But there was some kind of crash"  
"Crash?!"

"Uh, Fred...maybe we shouldn't be so vocal." Spike suggested. "After all, you have quite a powerful bun in your oven, yourself."

Chloe blinked at him.

"Excuse me?"

"Goodbye, Spike!" Fred snapped. Spike gave her a look.

"She doesn't know about her kid's pow...."

"Spike!" Fred fumed. Spike looked from Fred to Chloe.

"Take care, luv. And don't you worry. We'll help Lois."

Chloe said nothing. First of all, Lois would rather die than be married! Second of all, she would rather die than be married to Lex 'Richie Rich' Luthor! And third, what the hell was Spike going to say about her baby?

Connor passed Spike as he was on his way out. He ignored the bleach blonde vampire and tentatively made his way over to Chloe and Fred.

"Did you find out anything about Lois?" Fred asked carefully. Wesley was trying to do damage control with General Lane and Lex, over Lois's disappearance. They couldn't tell the men that some guy had flown off with her!

"Uh yeah. I'll tell you outside, later." Connor said, looking at Chloe. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Were you two talking about Lois?" she asked. Connor sat down on the edge of her bed.

"She's fine. I'm more concerned about you."

"Why?"

Fred bit her lip. This whole situation was just so stressful! Two young women show up here, pregnant by men that are not normal, human men. Only they don't remember the men or how they got pregnant. And now, Chloe was clearly suspicious of Connor's hovering over her, when she did not remember him.

"Because someone has to be."

Chloe was oddly touched and at the same time, insulted!

"I'm not a charity case!"

"I never said you were." Connor replied a bit taken aback.

"Well who are you really? I mean why do you keep coming in here as if.....just go! None of you are telling me why this is happening to me! Who impregnated me?! The same people that hurt Lois? Who?"

"The father of your child loves you." Connor said simply, then got up. He turned and walked out. Chloe stared at the door he went through for the longest time. Fred coughed.

"Well, I'm going to see if there's any news on Lois. Do you want me to send in your father?"

"No." Chloe said, her manner now grumpy. Fred nodded and left the room herself.

Clark landed on the farm, trying to be gentle, but still ended up falling with Lois in his arms. Martha Kent saw this from the window and hurried outside.

"Clark? What is this? Is that Lois?"

"Uh, yeah, it is. Where is Dad? Lana?"

"Lana went back to the university to look for you when you didn't return. She said you were with some professor."

"He wasn't a professor and we need to get Lois upstairs." Clark said, walking with Lois towards the house. A sudden noise made them stop in their tracks. Martha and Clark looked up.

The ship flew into the barn again. Jonathan came running out, shocked.

"Why does it keep doing that?!" he screeched. He then looked over and saw Clark holding a woman. Was that Lois?

"Clark, what is this? I thought Lois was in California."

"Mom, Dad, I have some things to tell you and we don't have a lot of time. I need to get Lois upstairs to bed. I also need for you to help me in case we have to deliver her baby.....my baby."

Martha and Jonathan's mouths dropped open, as they looked from one another, to Clark and Lois. Jonathan nodded tersely, as Clark hurried up the porch steps with Lois. Martha shrugged at Jonathan, before following after her son. Jonathan glanced over at the barn, before walking up the steps as well.

Connor burst into Harmony's office.

"I want to reverse the spell. You're the new liaison to the Senior Partners, so I want you to help me do it."

Harmony licked her lips and stood up from her chair.

"I am aware of the contract you have with this firm. You do know what we want."

"I do."

"Good. And you do know what will happen if you try in anyway to cross us?"

"I do." Connor said blithely.

"Good. I'll just run it by the Senior Partners, and it's done. Time will pick up at the moment the spell was first cast." Harmony chirped. 


	7. Drama At The Kent's

Chapter 7

Lois awoke to find her surroundings quite different from the last time she was awake. That and Clark Kent was asleep in a chair next to her bed!

Lois eyed him, then looked around. There was a small lamp on, and she recognized her surroundings as the Kent guest bedroom. What the hell?!

Lois automatically felt her stomach. God, she was bigger than ever! She sighed, then stretched as far as she could, to nudge Clark.

"Hey!" she whispered. "You hoo, Smallville!"

Clark came awake instantly and focused in on Lois. He looked at the clock beside her bed. It was two in the morning.

"Lois, you're awake."

"What am I doing here? Where is my father?"

Clark leaned forward.

"You need rest. Why don't you go back to sleep?"

Lois gave him a look as if he had lost his mind!

"Clark, what am I doing here?" she repeated. "And why are you sitting in here? What's going on? My father brought me here?"

There was a quick knock on the door. Jonathan stuck his head in. He smiled at Lois.

"I didn't realize you were awake, Lois."

"I didn't realize I was on your farm, Mr. Kent. Clark here was getting ready to tell me what's going on."

Jonathan looked at Clark.

"Uh, Clark. Lana is downstairs."

Clark looked at his watch.

"It's the middle of the night."

"Yeah, well, there's a problem." Jonathan said in a no nonsense tone of voice.

Clark stood up.

"I'll be right out, Dad." he said. Jonathan nodded and closed the door. Clark then looked at Lois, who was staring at him intently. He stared back at her. He found himself wondering how Lois felt about the baby? Clark also realized that there was a part of him that was scared to tell Lois that he was the father. Would Lois be revolted to know that they had been together? Or would she be indifferent....or maybe happy? Or even proud to be having his child?

"You'd better get downstairs then. Is Chloe here too?" Lois asked, pulling back the covers. Her stomach was so big, that the gown she had been given by Wolfram & Hart was stretched. Clark could see a little of the 'S' on her stomach, peeking out.

Clark sat down on the bed next to Lois. He then reached for her hand.

"I did this on my own, Lois. I brought you here. When I find out what Lana wants, then I'm coming back up here and we're going to have a talk about this baby."

Lois squinted at him.

"How did you even know that I was pregnant? Oh yeah, I'm as big as this house we're in. And why should 'we' have a talk about anything?"

"Lois...."

"You're creeping me out, Smallville."

"And you're getting on my nerves, Lois. Look, just stay in bed and relax. I will explain everything when I get back up here, okay?"

Lois said nothing and watched until he left the room. Once the door closed, Lois reached for the phone that was sitting on the nightstand. She was going to call the operator and ask her to connect her with the Wolfram & Hart offices in L.A.. She didn't know what was going on here with the Kent's, but she didn't want them involved with her alien baby problems. They had their own concerns and....and she was kind of embarrassed to be this big, especially in front of Clark, though she couldn't think why.

"Clark, we had a fight! A terrible one!" Lana almost cried. Clark raised a brow. Martha cleared her throat.

"Uh, honey, Lana and I were talking for a bit before you came down. Lana is 'remembering' something from the other day."

Clark glanced at his mother, then looked at Lana.

"You're remembering?"

Jonathan stepped forward.

"Son, I've been 'remembering' some things too, if you know what I mean."

It suddenly hit Clark, that the spell that Connor had cast, was wearing off. His mother still looked as if she were confused and he knew that Lois was.

"Okay.....Lana we....."

"You were mean, Clark! I've seen you like that, maybe twice before, but you were really cruel! And......and people were dying....there was someone killing.....oh my God! Your professor! The one that you left here with earlier, he was the killer!"

Lana was beginning to get hysterical and Clark pulled her into an embrace. Martha turned to her husband.

"What do you mean, you're beginning to remember? Remember what?"

Jonathan pulled her out of Clark and Lana's hearing.

"We went to a town meeting the other day."

Martha frowned at him.

"No we didn't."

"Yes, we did, Martha. You, me and Lana."

"Lana? Why were we with her?"

"She was already here, I think. Chloe was too. That part is fuzzy."

"Wait a minute, Jonathan! I mean, first Clark tells us that he has gotten Lois pregnant because of the red Kryptonite, and then Lana comes over remembering things that never happened and...."

"Honey, I think they did happen. I remember that Lana came with us to the town meeting because she was mad at Clark. Chloe was in the house, I think."

"Is Clark the father of Chloe's baby too then?" Martha asked, more confused and horrified by the moment.

"No, Martha! You heard him, some kid named Connor is the father of her child."

Martha suddenly caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Lois was standing on the stairs. Lana saw her too, as she still stood in Clark's embrace.

"Lois? Clark, what is Lois doing here?"

Clark let go of her and turned to stare at Lois.

"Lois, you were supposed to stay upstairs."

"Yes, Lois, let me help you back into bed." Martha said, moving towards her. But Lois gave her a hard look.

"I heard you." she said. Martha began to back away. Jonathan started to say something. Clark moved closer to the stairs. He eyed his parents.

"What is she talking about?"

"What is the DOING here, Clark?" Lana asked, feeling more and more frantic. That professor, who wasn't really a professor, had been out in the barn with Clark and her! Clark had left with him! Why?! And Lois....Lois was supposed to be in L.A......

Lana turned away from the scene. Lois had been here before....something was coming back to her. Was Lois the reason she had been fighting with Clark before? Were these memories that were coming back to her, even real?

"Heard what?" Clark asked, uncomfortable with the look Lois was giving him. Jonathan coughed.

"We were discussing the 'situation'."

Clark still didn't understand. Lois came all the way down the stairs.

"Let me spell it out for you, Smallville! I just heard your parents discussing how YOU are the father of my baby! They said something else I couldn't hear, but I got the gist of it! God! This all makes sense now! Why you brought me here!"

"WHAT?!!!!" Lana screamed, giving Clark a filthy look. Clark was in a sense, physically trapped between the two young woman. Jonathan stepped forward.

"Clark, we can't keep hiding this. I think we should all sit down and you tell the girls here, what you told us."

Clark looked at Lana.

"Lana, please, sit down. I'll tell you what I know."

Lana just shook her head and slowly sat down.

Clark then looked at Lois.

"Lois? Please...."

"Is that what I said when you raped me?"

"Lois, it was not like that! I swear it!"

"Then why can't I remember it? Or anything, now that I think about it, past the other day, when I woke up in my dorm room, covered with this rash?! Did you give this to me too?"

"Lois let's just sit down. This can't be good for the baby." Martha tried to cajole her. But Lois shook her head.

"No thanks, Mrs. Kent! I called my father. He's sending some men here to pick me up and take me to the local base. I'll have all I need then to deliver this...."

Lois suddenly stopped talking and gave Clark a different kind of look.

"Why is this baby growing so fast? And....." Lois couldn't say anymore. She thought back to the dreams she had had about Krypton and this Kal-El person. Well she now knew that Kal-El wasn't the father of her baby, but Clark Kent was! He had to have drugged her or something! Had she made up this alien nonsense, as some sort of coping mechanism?

No. Something was not right with this child. And.....she could still see through things.....like she could see through the walls of the house, that cars were coming up the road to the house.

Clark was just an ordinary guy. There had to be some kind of mistake.

Clark moved towards her, just as Lana put her face in her hands and began to cry. He glanced back at her regretfully, before looking at Lois again.

"There was a spell cast, to make us all forget. Only, some of us are regaining our memories. I did." he lied. "I am the father of this child, Lois. And there are reasons why what you're going through doesn't seem natural. But you have to give me a chance to explain."

"A spell? So the spell made us lose are inhibitions and have sex?"

Lana stopped crying and stood up. She wiped her face.

"No, Lois. Having a girlfriend with 'locked ankles' did it. You said that to me, Clark."

"Clark!" Jonathan yelled. "Did you really say that to Lana?"

"Dad, I had been infected too, remember?" he reminded him between gritted teeth. He didn't need his own parents ganging up on him too. He began to realize that maybe, just maybe, this 'spell story' could explain everything, even the baby's abilities, while keeping his secret at the same time. God knows he couldn't really tell them about the red Kryptonite.

"Yes, it was the spell that made us lose our inhibitions, Lois. It was the spell that made me act so cruelly towards you, Lana."

"And this baby? This baby is....it's because of the spell?" Lois asked, a bit mollified.

"If I said it was, would that make the whole idea of us, less repulsive?" Clark blurted out. Lana looked at him with surprise. Jonathan and Martha looked at one another. Their son was really stepping in it now!

Lois took a deep breath, surprised by his tone and words.

"I don't find you repulsive, Clark, okay? And I'm sorry for not being more tactful...."

"Which is always."

"But," Lois continued, "I really don't have time for your hurt feelings right now! I'm getting bigger by the second here!"

Clark turned towards the door. The cars were now right up by the house. He turned back to Lois and walked over to her, grabbing her shoulders.

"Lois, what are you planning on doing with our child?"

Lana began to glare at the both of them. She didn't appreciate Clark's attitude! He was almost acting as if....as if he really wanted this child! Obviously, Lois would be giving it up for adoption or something, and then they could all forget this whole terrible experience.

"I don't know, Clark, I have to have it first!" Lois snapped. "And I still don't understand how a spell made Chloe and I have sex with men we barely know, while everybody else is hunky dory! Now I'm leaving so move out of my way!"

"Chloe didn't have sex with someone she 'barely knew'.....look, just stay and let's talk this out..."

"Move, Clark!"

There was a knock on the door. Lois looked at the door, then Clark.

"I'll call you or something, okay?"

"You're not leaving." Clark said coolly. Jonathan and Martha looked at one another again. They were both thinking the same thing. Surely their son wasn't planning on using his strength to subdue Lois, was he? And if he did, no one in the room could stop him.

"What do you plan to do about it?" Lois asked, as she began to move around him. God! She still had so many unanswered questions, the main one being, even if they were all under some kind of 'spell', was there an underlying attraction between herself and Clark, that they had acted on?

Clark still held her by the shoulders, when Lois pushed him away from her....hard....very, very, hard.

The men that General Lane had sent, were more than a bit shocked, when Clark Kent came crashing through the house and slid off of the porch! The men peered inside, as Lois looked at her hands. Ooops!

Jonathan and Martha went running after Clark, while Lana stared at Lois, slackjawed. Lana then hurried after the Kent's, as the men, and the Kent's, helped Clark up. Lana stared at her boyfriend. He was just thrown through a house, and now he was getting up and dusting himself off?

Lois waddled over to the hole in the house and watched Clark as well. It was the spell. Maybe her baby was normal, and this spell, that Clark kept referring to, was what was making everything go haywire. Maybe it was the spell that caused Clark to survive that little trip through the wall.

"You should be dead...or at least hurt." One of the military men said, eyeing Clark. Lois stepped through the hole, as Lana hugged Clark. She didn't care how he had survived it. He was okay, that's what counted.

"Guys, I didn't bring any luggage, so I'm ready to go." Lois announced.

"We'll take you home then." the other military man said.

"You're taking her back to the dorms?" Jonathan asked. He, Clark and Martha looked at one another, while Lana began to glare at Lois. Things were beginning to come back at a faster rate now. Clark had been hiding Lois on this farm for some other reason. He had hidden her here and not told her. Lana now wondered if it had been more than just a spell that had caused Lois to become pregnant.

Lana's mind went back to that day in the shower, when she saw Lois's body. No, it was the spell. What else could account for those strange rashes on her?

"No, to your home....your new home." the first man said. Lois and Clark looked at one another.

"Uh, I live in the dorms here in Smallville." Lois told them.

"Mr. Luthor doesn't want his new wife, living in the dorms."

"WHAT?! Clark and Lois exclaimed in unison. Lana felt a small pang of relief. Jonathan Kent, however, really didn't like the sound of this! Specifically the Lex part!

"I.....I.....I am not married. As a matter of fact, I'm not married to anyone, specifically Lex Luthor!" Lois stammered.

But Clark remembered how he had found Lois. She had been drugged and in a helicopter with Lex. God.....

"Why didn't you tell us that you married Lex?" Lana asked. Lois glared at her.

"I didn't!"

"So you're telling us that you don't remember the ceremony?" Lana asked. Lois gave her a look like she wanted to beat her ass!

"There was no 'ceremony'! Ask me that same question again, and see if you don't get some of what Clark got!"

Clark stepped in.

"Okay, okay! There's no need to be nasty here, we can work this out. There's a mistake. When I brought Lois here, she was sedated. She couldn't have been awake....."

Clark suddenly looked at his parents. Martha still looked confused. But Jonathan didn't.

"Somehow, I wouldn't put it past Lex to marry someone while they were in a coma, much less sedated." Jonathan said.

"Why?! Why would Lex do this to me? No, my father would've never allowed this! This is a mistake and I'm not going anywhere!" Lois insisted, turning to go back into the house.

But the two men grabbed both of her arms! Just as Lois was about to shake them off, and Clark was about to step in, the ship flew out of the barn!

Jonathan saw it first. He grabbed Martha and Lana, then threw them to the ground!

"What is that?!" Lana screamed. Lois broke away from the men and Clark jumped back, as the ship fired two rays, disintegrating General Lane's men. The ship hovered in the air for a moment, as Clark and Lois stared up at it. Then, it turned and flew back into the barn.

Lois fainted. Somewhere from inside the farmhouse, the phone rang.

Angel hung up. There was no answer at the Kent farm and now he was more than just apprehensive, he was unnerved.

Dr. Swann and Wesley poured through journals and books, as Swann told Wesley all about Clark. Wesley shook his head and looked at Angel.

"We need to go to Smallville, Angel. It's the only way to protect this child from whatever fate is awaiting it."

"Yeah, I'm also concerned about this whole Lex/Lois marriage thing. He's up to no good. And where is Connor? I haven't been able to find him." Angel asked.

"I haven't seen him." Wesley admitted. Spike walked in.

"Word is that your boy made some kind of deal with the Senior Partners. Something that will set things straight. He's up with his girlfriend now."

"And you know this how?" Angel asked skeptically. Connor had agreed to wait before asking for any kind of spell reversals. He wouldn't just go ahead and make a deal like that.

"Harmony and I, despite our tortured history together, are still close."

"Is that right?" Angel asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, that's right, Angel. Harmony just has to get the Senior Partners to agree to a few terms, and then all of this will be over."

"Damnit! What the hell was Connor thinking?! What's 'over' for Connor and Chloe, might not be for Lois and Clark!"

"Clark? Who's that?" Spike asked, looking around.

"The father of Lois's child." Wesley volunteered.

Spike stared at the three of them, before he burst out laughing! Wesley sighed.

"Something funny, Spike?"

"Yeah! Poor Lois! So this Clark is the handprint guy? Bloody hell, she would've been better off with that El guy being the father than some ponce named 'Clark'!"

Dr. Swann stared at Spike.

"El guy?"

"Yeah.....Lois had some kind of dream where she was told the father was from the 'House of El'. Now she at least knows it's not some alien. It's some Nancy boy named Clark!"

Dr. Swann looked at Angel and Wesley.

"The ship....I suspect the ship has been projecting holographic images into Ms. Lane's brain."

"What the hell is going on?" Spike asked, concerned. Something he had just told them seemed to concern everyone in this room.

Connor sat by a sleeping Chloe's side, just as Harmony walked in. Connor did a double take.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"The Senior Partners....the spell reversal?"

"Oh yeah. Actually, Connor, some of the partners are on vacation."

"What?"

"Yeah that and you know, those spells don't take all of the time. I mean look at you. You should have no memories of Angel at all. But you do. And now there's been word that people in Smallville are beginning to remember your father's 'visit' there."

Connor stood up.

"So there's a chance that Chloe may begin to remember?"

"Oh yeah! Definitely!"

"Then there's no need for our 'deal' to go through? I can just wait this out?"

"Oh yeah! You know, I kind of thought that spell reversal idea was a bad idea. I mean those kind of things can get messy."

"Okay....well, I'm going to just stay here with her then." Connor said, looking back at the sleeping Chloe. He brushed a tendril of hair away from her forehead. Harmony turned and walked out of the room. Once in the hallway, she smirked and walked over to one of the medical technicians.

"Where is Mr. Sullivan?"

"Off with General Lane and Mr. Luthor."

"Good. The minute lover boy in there leaves her side, I want you to take Ms. Sullivan to our special holding facility."

"For how long?"

"Until that child is born." Harmony said pleasantly. What she had not told Connor, was that the Senior Partners were tired of the ungrateful father/son team of Angel and Connor. And the child of the So' Dath prophecies, would be a wonderful compensation for all of their 'generosity'. So yes, while their original deal, for Connor to take his father's place as head of Wolfram & Hart was null and void, the Partners had come up with a new deal, without Connor's knowledge, to satiate them. 


	8. Hazardous Conditions

Chapter 8

Clark carried the passed out Lois, back upstairs to the guest room. He then hurried back downstairs, just as a shaken Lana, Jonathan and Martha, came in. They watched as Clark hurried to the phone.

"Who are you calling son?" Jonathan asked worriedly. They couldn't call the police and tell them that a spaceship had disintegrated two military men!

"I'm calling Dr. Swann at Wolfram & Hart."

"Why?" Martha asked, moving closer to him.

"Because I was a fool to think I could do this alone. We can't deliver this baby here. We can't stay here. There has to be a way to keep that ship from going berserk and doing whatever it plans to do, once the baby is born."

"Oh God!" Lana cried, sinking down onto the couch. Martha hurried over to her, and told her to place her head between her knees. Clark gazed at Lana for a moment, before turning his attention to Jonathan.

"What are you planning on doing? Flying this Dr. Swann here?" Jonathan asked in a low voice, so that Lana would not hear.

Before Clark could confirm or deny, Lana suddenly brought her head up and stood up to face Clark.

"You never answered my question from before."

"Lana, please, I will answer everything you need to know later...."

"How did Lois get here? I mean it's plain to see that her father didn't know she was here. Did you have her flown in?"

"Lana...."

"You've known from the very beginning that you were the father of her baby. And you also knew what happened to her, when Chloe and I found Lois in that shower. This 'spell' left your handprints on her? Why?"

"Lana, honey, why don't I get you something?" Martha tried to cajole her. Lord, this was one huge mess, that kept getting bigger and bigger by the minute!

"I'm leaving, that's what I'm doing!" Lana snapped. Clark walked over to her and tried to reach for her hands, but Lana snatched them out of his reach.

"You've lied to me for the last time, Clark Kent." she said in a somewhat quieter voice than he had been expecting.

"Lana, that ship out there is dangerous! You can't just leave."

"The ship wants Lois or her baby....and I'm sorry for that. In a way I'm sorry for her. But I can't be a part of this and not know what's going on."

"You do know what's going on."

"I only know because I stopped by here! You weren't going to call me at the dorms...you lied to me about that professor and if I had not come by here, you were going to lie to me about Lois's being here, weren't you? Like you did before."

"You remember that?"

Lana nodded.

"I do, Clark. I also remember you didn't give me a very straight answer about that either then."

"Lana, believe me when I tell you that when I keep things from you, I'm not doing it to hurt you. I'm doing it to protect you."

"Whatever, Clark. I'll take my chances and run for my car."

"But the police...."

"You can explain that ship, since I know you know why it's in your barn. You can explain the dead men, you can explain the spell that let Lois throw you through this house and have you survive. You can explain the spell to her father, who's going to be thrilled that you didn't come forward and admit all of this before."

Lana then turned and walked out of the house. The ship did not venture from the barn, and Lana made it to her car without incident. Clark sadly watched as she got in and drove off.

Martha put a hand on her son's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Clark."

Jonathan moved near him too.

"Yes, son, we both are. But we'll fix this."

Clark turned back to face his parents.

"I don't have time to be sad. I'll deal with getting Lana back later. Lois and I are putting you in danger by being here."

Clark then moved to the phone and began dialing.

Angel put Clark on speakerphone, as he, Dr. Swann, Wesley and Spike, listened in. Gunn was dealing with General Lane's proposed lawsuit against the firm.

"Go ahead, Clark!" Angel called out.

"Lois was drugged and in a helicopter with Lex. I brought her back here, where she woke up and called her father. He sent two men to take her to Lex's, who by the way, she had not idea she had married! What's up with that?"

"I knew it!" Spike snapped.

"Who is that?" Clark asked.

"That's Spike, Clark, now...."

"The dog?"

Spike gasped! Who was this bloody git? "Look mate, I'm not a sodding hound, alright? I'm a friend of Lois's!"

Clark didn't quite know how to respond to the righteous sounding anger he was hearing, nor did he have the time to get into a sparring match with this....person.

"Dr. Swann is there?"

Angel nodded. Dr. Swann spoke.

"Yes, Clark. How is Lois feeling?"

"She's big, and I think the baby has my powers because she threw me through the house."

Angel whistled. Everyone else looked at one another, just as Connor walked in. He eased over, as he recognized Clark's voice. Angel put his fingers to his lips when he saw him. Connor reluctantly did as he was told, but listened in anyway.

"Clark, Wesley Wyndam-Price here. Lois has been able to see through things as well. That is something you can do too?"

"Yes," Clark answered, "but there's more here. The ship is in our barn and when the military men came to take Lois away, she resisted. The ship came out of the barn and....."

"Turned the men to dust." Angel finished. He shook his head. Connor pulled him away from the speakerphone.

"Lois is trapped with Clark then at his farm?" Connor asked. Angel nodded.

"What was he thinking taking her out of here? We could've protected her here."

Angel couldn't answer that. He moved back towards the speakerphone.

"I need you here, Dr. Swann. I don't think we can deliver this baby alone. And yet, I don't know what will happen to any of us if we get near Lois. The ship is just going haywire." Clark noted.

"Clark, I want you to listen to me: I think that you can deflect the rays with your hands, or your body in general."

Spike snorted!

"Are you bloody kidding me? What kind of half-arsed advice is he giving the ponce there? He'll get himself dusted!"

"What did you call me?" Clark asked, now a bit angry at this foul mouthed stranger, that he kept hearing in the background.

Connor stepped forward.

"Clark, it's Connor."

Clark eyed his parents, who were hanging on every word.

"Connor, the same Connor who started this mess."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that Kent. My spell didn't leave handprints on Lois, or get her pregnant."

"Your point?"

"I'm here to help, Kent. Anyway I can."

"How is Chloe by the way? Why don't you just concentrate on her." Clark said in a tight voice. He didn't know what it was about that guy that irked him, but he had just never liked him.

"Chloe is going to be fine. Everyone will be. Since you can fly, and I know this because I saw you, why don't you bring Lois back here?"

Angel shook his head.

"Lois knows about your powers, Clark? I mean, what happened when she saw you survived being thrown through the house?"

"She thinks it's part of the spell. That neither one of us would really be this strong if it weren't for it."

Spike suddenly sat up.

"Wait a minute....are you telling us that Lois thinks that the shagging you gave her, was part of the spell too?"

Connor tilted his head as well.

"I suppose you had to tell Lana something. Otherwise you'd have just had to have told her the truth: that you wanted Lois."

Angel held up a hand!

"Okay, stop it! Clark was infected with the same kind of rock that turned me back into Angelus, only his was red....if that makes any sense."

"It does to me." Dr. Swann said. "Clark, let's not get off track here. Why don't you come here and take me back with you? When the ship attacks, deflect the rays with your hands, or like I said before, your body. I am quite sure they will have no affect on you."

"Quite as in 100 percent?" Clark asked, unsure.

"More like 99 percent and....what was that?!" Dr. Swann asked. Connor, Spike, Wesley and Angel leaned in.

"Clark? What was that noise?" Dr. Swann asked.

"Lois....she's crying out....."

"Clark, her labor has probably begun. I have an idea, but I need to get there right away. Can you come and get me?"

"Yes! Anything to keep her from going through this pain!" Clark said, his voice sounding more and more agitated.

"I'll see you shortly then." Dr. Swann said, cutting off the call. Angel looked at him.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to perform a C-Section. It's the only safe way to get this child out of Ms. Lane's body."

Wesley stood up.

"Angel, we have to tell General Lane the truth here. He is still our client."

"And Luthor." Spike said grimly, "since he now fancies himself Lois's husband."

"I'm going back to sit with Chloe." Connor said, turning and walking out of the room. It's not that he didn't feel for Lois, but in a way, Clark was right. Chloe was his concern now, and this mess that Kent was in, was his own doing.

Connor opened the door to Gunn, who nodded and swept past him.

"Angel, the General and Luthor are in the conference room. He hasn't heard from the men that were supposed to pick up Lois from the Kent farm. He also wants to know how she got there in the first place."

"And his lawsuit?" Angel asked.

"Well Luthor is the one trying to keep him calm, so I think if they just knew that Lois was safe, this all might go away."

Angel nodded.

"Okay, I'll meet with them....alone."

Clark hung up the phone and ran upstairs to Lois's room, where his parents were already. He heard another cry, and realized it came from him father!

"Dad?!" Clark cried out, rushing into the room. Martha was helping Jonathan from it.

"Lois accidentally broke his arm!" Martha cried out.

"Clark, you are the only one that can hold her down. This baby is coming!"

Clark hurried past them and over to the bed, where he grabbed ahold of Lois's arms.

"Lois, you have to calm down!"

"Oh that's easy for you to say, Smallville! This baby is trying to KICK it's way out or somethin.......AAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Lois, I need for you to listen to me: I'm bringing someone who is going to deliver this baby, alright? It won't take but a few minutes."

But Lois was not listening to him. She was looking by the window.

Lady Lara was standing there, in her God awful clothing again. She walked towards the bed, her expression dispassionate.

"The baby will be named after his grandfather, Jor-El."

"No! No, I'm not naming my baby Jor-El!" Lois cried out. Clark looked at his parents, who looked equally as stunned.

"Lois? Who are you looking at? Why did you say that name?"

Lois screamed again and Clark realized her strength equaled his. He was forced to let go of her, as she writhed on the bed. As he stood up, he saw it.

The red 'S' on her stomach, was glowing through the hospital gown that Wolfram & Hart had given her! Clark hurried out into the hallway.

"I'm going to get Dr. Swann. When we get back, Mom, take Dad to the doctor. We'll handle this."

"How? That ship....." Jonathan gasped in pain.

"Dr. Swann came up with an idea." was all Clark was say. His parents nodded and Clark rushed down the stairs and outside, before looking around and leaping into the sky.

Connor walked down the hallway to Chloe's room, only to find someone wheeling her out of her room. Chloe was asleep.

"Hey! Where are you going with her?"

The orderly ignored Connor. Connor rushed up and shoved him so hard, that he went flying backwards into a wall, smashing it. He then slumped down to the ground, unconscious.

Connor removed the straps that held Chloe down, picked her up and rushed back towards Angel's office. Maybe Clark had had the right idea about getting Lois the hell out of here! That's what he intended to do with Chloe himself, right before he cursed out Harmony! She was up to something and if he had not come along, he probably would've never been told where Chloe was!

As he made his way back to the hallway outside of Angel's office, he saw Angel speaking with General Lane and Lex Luthor. They looked when they saw him.

"What the hell?!" General Lane barked. "Put my niece down there!"

"Connor, what's going on?" Angel asked.

"Well, I'll tell you! Someone is trying to pull a fast one around here! I found some creep wheeling Chloe off to God knows where!"

"What concern of that of yours?" Lex snapped. "You know what? Never mind! Chloe is coming with us as well. The ship is gone, but I'm going to arrange for a private ambulance to take my wife's cousin to my plane."

General Lane turned back to Angel.

"Now, are you going to tell me how one moment, my daughter disappears from a fallen helicopter, to ending up at the Kent farm? Or am I going to have to sue this place for all it's worth, to get some answers?!"

Suddenly, Harmony stomped past them crying! She sniffed and sat down at the receptionist's desk. Everyone stared.

"Uh, Harmony, what are you doing?" Angel asked. Harmony glared at then all.

"The big, bad General over there got me demoted! I'm back to being a stupid secretary! The senior partners didn't like my handling of everything."

"Were you the one that was going to have Chloe taken away?" Connor demanded to know, still carrying Chloe in his arms. Harmony looked away.

"Okay, so who has your position now?" Angel asked.

The elevator doors opened, and Lilah stepped off of them, fresh from hell. She smiled and walked over to the group.

"General Lane and Lex requested that I be brought back in, since everything has been handled so badly. General, Lex, Lois is probably delivering her baby right now. The Kent farm is too primitive a place for her to be giving birth in, so we'd better get a move on and pray for the best."

Lilah then turned to Connor.

"As for our deal, the ante has been upped now, something I'm sure Harmony made you aware of."

Harmony sniffed pitifully. Connor eyed her.

"I know that. But we're going with our original deal."

"Which is?" Angel asked.

General Lane suddenly took out a pair of handcuffs. Connor handed Chloe to Angel, who's mouth dropped open. The General smiled.

"The spell didn't really work on me either. Connor here, is going to surrender himself to the New Initiative. It's either him or the child."

Angel shook his head adamantly, as Spike and Wesley came out. Angel handed Chloe to Spike.

"This was the deal you made on the plane? No! No, you're not taking him! And you wouldn't take your own niece's kid from her?"

"I won't now, no." General Lane said, clicking on the handcuffs. Lex gave the General a puzzled look.

"What is this all about? What spell and what deal?"

"You just concentrate on being a good husband to my Lo, and a fine father to my grandchild. We have to get going now. Come along, Connor!"

A crash from inside Angel's office made everyone take notice. The group hurried in, only to find Dr. Swann's empty wheelchair, and one of the windows devoid of glass.

"That ponce Clark must've taken him." Spike muttered. But Lex looked at him.

"Clark who?" he demanded to know. 


	9. Betrayal

Chapter 9

Clark carried the winded Dr. Swann up the porch stairs. He was staring into space. Good God! He had just flown in the sky....without the luxury of an airplane!

The still injured Jonathan met them at the door.

"Dad, how's your arm?"

"It's been better. You're the doctor?"

"Yes, Dr. Swann. Clark, you're going to have to carry me to Lois."

"Uh, yeah." Clark said. "I kind of forgot to bring your wheelchair. I could go back and get it?"

Lois screamed again! Dr. Swann shook his head.

"It doesn't sound like there's time. Take me up to her." he ordered Clark. Clark nodded and looked at his father.

"Is Mom up there with Lois?"

"Yeah, though she's being careful not to wrestle with her or anything like that."

Clark carried Dr. Swann up the stairs and walked to Lois's open door. It was quiet now. Martha was dabbing Lois's forehead with a washcloth, when she looked up and saw them.

"This is Dr. Swann?" Martha asked.

"Yeah, Mom, could you pull that chair over to the bed? I forgot to bring along his wheelchair."

"Oh, of course." Martha said, pulling a nearby chair towards them. Clark gently set down Dr. Swann. He then looked at his mother.

"Go. Go and get Dad to a doctor."

"Clark, she is hard to handle and when she wakes up...."

"We'll handle it, Mom."

"Okay....but what about her calling out Jor-El's name? How does she even know of him?"

Dr. Swann looked up at her.

"It's probably the ship. You said it was out in the barn?"

Clark nodded. "Yeah, so?"

"It's probably emitting your family history into Ms. Lane's brain, through some sort of wave pattern."

"Great!" Clark snapped. He ran his hands through his hair. They would just have to take care of one problem at a time. Hopefully, when this was over, Lois would have no memory of Krypton, Jor-El, or anything else connected to him.....with the exception of their child.

Martha was still standing there.

"Mom, go!"

Martha nodded, then swallowed. She then backed out of the room and hurried down the hall. The front screendoor could be heard slamming soon after. Clark looked out of the window, just to make sure that the ship did not attack his parents. But all was quiet.

Clark then turned to Dr. Swann.

"What are we going to do?"

"We're going to cut the child out now."

"Now?! I mean.....well....what are you going to use?"

"I need a blade with a serrated edge."

"Okay and some towels or something?"

"Yes, but do hurry. We need to do this while Ms. Lane is still unconscious."

Clark hurried downstairs and began looking through the kitchen drawers. He didn't think he could watch Dr. Swann cut Lois open, but at the same time, he had to be here.

The first blast came through the kitchen window, barely missing him! Clark ended up pulling out the whole drawer, spilling the kitchenware. He found the blade and hurried back upstairs to Dr. Swann.

"Here!" he yelled, handing him the blade. "The ship is attacking."

"You have to stop it, Clark! Otherwise your child doesn't stand a chance." Dr. Swann warned. Clark hurried out of the room, down the stairs and out of the door.

The ship was hovering in the air, right in front of Lois's window. It spun in a circle, then lobbied a bunch of rays at Clark. At first, he dodged them, but then, he realized he would have no choice but to trust in what Dr. Swann suggested. He stopped dodging, and put one hand up in a halting motion.

The blast ricocheted off of his hand and back at the ship, blowing it up. A wave of white light rays that rippled, flung Clark backwards. For the briefest second, before he had been thrown back, Clark could've sworn he saw an image of him and Lois making love in the barn. He laid there, stunned, until he got his bearings. He then stood up and ran back for the house.

But when he got to Lois's room, Clark couldn't believe his eyes.

Lois was sitting up, blinking and looking around. She did not look pregnant anymore and....

Dr. Swann and the baby were gone.

Clark hurried into the room and looked out of the window. He then ran to the closet and flung that open. Lois stared at him.

"Clark? What's going on?"

Clark turned back to her.

"You tell me!"

"What do you mean, 'you tell me'? What's going on is you're in my room here." she said. She stood up and hopped over to her dresser. She then looked down at herself.

"Is this your mother's nightgown? It looks like a hospital sheet or something. Never mind. Lex brought my clothes but I don't see them."

"Lois.....where is our baby?" he said in a voice did not sound like his own. Her foot....she was hopping around like she was before the spell.

Lois's mouth dropped open! She then burst out laughing!

"That's a good one, Smallville! Look, I don't have time for jokes here. I need my clothes so I can pay a visit to my dear father. Did I tell you he was trying to marry me off to Lex Luthor? Clark, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Lois!" Clark yelled, closing the distance between them. "You had a baby in this room, that's why you're in that gown...."

Clark tried to reach down and pull it up, so he could see her stomach, but Lois slapped him hard! He flinched.

"What the hell?! Listen to me, Clark! You don't just grab for what you want here. Now I would be happy to show you whatever, is you ask nicely." she purred in a flirtatious manner, before turning away again and looking through the dresser.

Clark backed away. God no! Lois did not remember being pregnant. She didn't remember Dr. Swann.....and that was the point in the first place, wasn't it? Dr. Swann had their baby.

He walked over to the bed. The blade he had given to Dr. Swann, was untouched by blood. It was on the floor, almost under the bed. Clark could not see that he had wiped blood from it, using anything in the room.

"Clark? Do you need to go to the doctor? You don't look well. I'll get your parents."

Clark did not answer and Lois blinked at him. Clark then walked over to her and pulled her into an embrace. Lois did not understand what was going on with him, but, she put her arms around him as well.

"Clark, who?" Lex repeated to Spike.

"Uh....uh...." Spike semi stammered, eyeing Wesley, who was giving him the look of death.

"Did I say Clark?"

"Yeah, you did! You said that 'ponce Clark' must've taken Dr. Swann. Who is Dr. Swann? Is this his wheelchair.....wait a minute! Do you mean the world renowned scientist, Dr. Swann?"

"Uh yes." Wesley stepped in. "What Spike here meant was something 'dark' must've taken him....you know to just snatch him from his wheelchair and carry him off into the night like this."

Lex did not answer them. Ever since this 'Angel' had been put at the helm of this firm, it's reputation had begun to go down. Their whole experience here had been filled with nothing bit incompetence. He didn't see how much longer Wolfram & Hart could last this way.

Lex turned and walked out of the office. He wasn't about to ask what took Dr. Swann or even why he had been here in the first place. His only concern was getting to Lois and her child. Why in God's name would Lois be at the Kent's? How did she get there? None of those questions had been answered to his satisfaction.

Meanwhile in the hallway, Angel was pointing at Lilah and General Lane. Chloe was being wheeled back towards the infirmary, with Fred leading the charge. Angel looked at Connor.

"How could you have been so stupid?!"

"This is my life...."

"No, now it's The Initiative's! Look, it doesn't have to be this way! Take me instead!" Angel begged General Lane.

The General sighed. God all of the histrionics! Didn't anyone just honor a deal anymore?

Lilah's cellphone rang. She moved away from the group to answer it. She then nodded, hung up and returned to the group.

"I'll be right back. A case needs my attention."

"What case?" Angel almost snapped.

"It's nothing you need to be concerned about."

"As CEO of this company, every case is my concern. I'll have Gunn go with you."

"It's not necessary. It's a special one that the Senior Partners asked me to take care of." Lilah answered and walked towards the elevators. Angel felt like throwing his hands up in the air! While he had been on his guard, ever since Wolfram & Hart offered him the chance to run their evil law firm, usually he could pretty much outwit them, at every corner.

But he lost time when he reverted back to Angelus. There were deals in the works that neither himself, nor his trusted friends, knew anything about.

Angel glared at the closed elevator doors. Lex sidled up to General Lane.

"What's going on here? What's the delay, General?"

"The 'delay', Lex, is that there's a new deal on the table."

Lex gave him a long look. Angel and Connor watched the two men.

"A new deal? Meaning what?"

"Meaning you will still make my Lo a wonderful husband."

"But?"

"But, minus the child. You two will have to have your own children."

Angel and Connor looked at one another. What the hell did that mean?!

Wesley rushed out of the office and grabbed Angel.

"Clark is on the line," he said in a low voice, so that Lex and the General could not hear. "It seems that Dr. Swann double-crossed us and stole the child. Now Lois Lane apparently has no memory of being pregnant."

Angel hurried into his office. Connor, who was now handcuffed, stared down the hallway Chloe had been wheeled down, as Lex and the General continued to argue.

"I think we both know, General, that part of the reason I married your daughter, actually, scratch that, the ONLY reason I married her, was because of her special child. I'm not really interested in having children with her or really even being married to her now."

"That's too bad, because the two of you are husband and wife."

"And if I refuse? If I get an annulment?"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I don't know what arrangements you've made for 'my' child, but if you've double-crossed me in anyway, Lois will pay dearly. In fact, I may just stay married to your daughter and make her quite the miserable wife. She will not be a happy woman."

"If you lay a hand on my Lo....."

Connor heard that and stared. What had the General expected from the likes of Lex Luthor? Lex turned and walked away, pulling out his cellphone. God help him, he was in over his head here! The General had more connections with this firm than he had let on. He was going to swallow his pride and call his father. It would cost him, Lex knew this. But he couldn't think of another person on this earth, that could come out of this situation, getting what he wanted, than Lionel Luthor.

Lilah reached out and took the baby boy from Dr. Swann. She then walked carefully to her desk and pressed a button. Two men walked in and fired guns at Dr. Swann, killing him. He collapsed to the floor, dead.

A nurse walked in after the men. Lilah handed the baby to her.

"Make sure the child is placed with the appropriate family." Lilah ordered her. The nurse then took the son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane out of the the office. Lilah then reached down and snatched, what looked a lot like a very tiny video caption tuner, off of the late Dr. Swann's arm. The wires were imbedded in his skin, and the flesh was ripped when she pulled it off of him. This little device, had not only enabled the doctor to walk unassisted with his chair, but to manipulate time and space.

Thus, Dr. Swann had been able to steal the baby, while he kept the device in return. Only, Lilah had changed her mind. It was never good to keep around people that could blab. She looked at the men.

"Get him out of here." she said. The men dragged Dr. Swann's body away. It would probably be cremated.

Lilah then waited until she was alone, to activate the device, shoving it into her own arm, ignoring the pain, and Dr. Swann's residual flesh. She then punched a few buttons. Now that they had the baby, EVERY person in this building, would go back to the way things were before.

She just hoped that Dr. Swann had taken care to make sure that neither Clark Kent, nor, Lois Lane, remembered anything back in Smallville. Otherwise, they'd have another big mess on their hands again.

Connor was the first to see the waves. Rippling waves of another reality, rushing towards them. General Lane and Lex stopped arguing and began to back away. The General didn't like this! He had a bad feeling he was about to be double-crossed as well.

Angel was forced to leave Clark hanging, as he, Wesley and Spike walked out into the outer office area, where the General, Lex and Connor were. There was nowhere to run, as the waves enveloped them. Only, each person saw a different reality in the waves coming towards them.

Connor stepped forward, seeing the Wolfram & Hart plane. He and Chloe were kissing. He closed his eyes and let the ripples envelop him.

The General howled his outrage at Connor's disappearance, as he saw himself back at the research facility at the army base, readying a prison cell for Connor's arrival. He put a hand up to ward off the ripples. But it did no good, as he too disappeared.

Lex screamed, as he saw himself in a car, crashing off of a bridge! He turned to run, but got swept into a ripple as well.

Angel saw himself on the plane as well, with Connor, Chloe and Lilah. What was this thing? Some sort of time shifting portal? He too disappeared.

Leaving Spike and Wesley to just stare. They had been here, working in the office, before Connor's spell. Their new reality looked no different from before. They both looked at one another, shrugged, then let the ripples envelope them as well.

In her office, Lilah shut off the device, pulled it from her arm, yanking skin off. She winced, then decided to go to the infirmary. She would probably need stitches.

THE END

The final and last installment will be up in a couple of days, entitled 'The Son Also Rises'. 


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